Seriously McMarried
by McGrey'sAnatomy
Summary: They met at the airport and in the same day he asked her to go somewhere sunny with him. There she asked him to marry her. They're two strangers with a life together now. Mer/Der fanfiction. R
1. A pen

Most of the passengers from the flight 5429 from Massachusetts to Seattle had recovered their luggage by now and many of them were hugging the beloved ones right in that moment, while just one passenger was fuming because the airline company had lost two of her suitcases.

"God, what a wonderful way to start your new life in this stupid, annoying city! There is nothing more depressing than the rain!" she sighed, frustrated.

She walked out from the transit area and started survey the waiting area. Someone had to be there waiting for her, one of her parents or maybe her best friend. She spotted two people collapsed in two chairs, looking as though they were asleep, resting on each other.

She giggled as she recognized her father and her best friend. Her mood lighted up a little bit, so she started dragging her suitcases and headed towards them.

When she arrived in front of them, she let the suitcases down together with the hand-carrying bag, slamming the last one on a chair beside them. "I wasn't that late!"

They both stirred and jumped to their feet when they saw who was standing in front of them.

"Meredith!" Her father was the first one to pull her into a tight hug.

"Hi dad," Meredith wrapped her arms around him, very happy to see him after such a long time.

Thatcher stepped back a little bit to be able to look more carefully at his daughter. His eyes were so happy, almost filled with tears. He caressed her cheek with the back of his hand, smiling and not even blinking. "I missed you so much, Mer!"

"I missed you too, Dad!" Meredith smiled wide, her eyes reflecting the same affection as her father's eyes. "How is Mom?" she asked, stepping back from his arms.

"She is stuck in hospital- as usual." Thatcher rolled his eyes, amused; Meredith must have already known how common that was for Ellis. "She sends you all her love and she hopes that you will stop by hospital and see her"

"I'll see what I can do. I have to stop by Seattle Grace and talk with Chief Webber, he is expecting me today," Meredith stated, smiling, and then turned to her best friend. She threw her arms around her. "Cristina!"

"Hey Mer!" Christina hugged her back. "What were you doing for so long in there? Screwing the captain?"

Meredith pulled away laughing and slapped her arm. "Christina!" She pointed out her father's presence to her best friend.

"Sorry, Mr. Grey!" Christina grinned, unashamed, even though she knew she was inappropriate.

Thatcher gave her a disapproving glare in response to her cavalier attitude. Sometimes he wondered how his little girl could be friends with such a rude and bitter person as Cristina. Sometimes he was fearful that his daughter might be exactly like her friend, but that was as fear that was never founded.

"I waited for my entire luggage to come out, but everything stopped at one point and I just found these!" Meredith stated, rolling her eyes in annoyance. It was great to see her family and friends again, but the incident with the two missing suitcases was still pissing her off.

"Incompetents!" Christina hurried to support her.

"Morons!" Meredith seemed to get back her good mood, so she joined her friend.

"Idiots!"

Thatcher watched them with an amused look on his face; that scene was one of those that typified their friendship.

"Ok, now, you two stop and you go and fill out a form to get your stuff back," Thatcher interrupted before their verbal indignation could be noticed by any of the airports workers.

"Yeah, we'll go and beat their lazy asses a little," Christina stated while she smacked a fist into her palm.

"Try not to do it too badly, because I don't want to have to bail you out of jail!" Thatcher warned her.

"Don't worry, Dad, we will be gentle," Meredith stood up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

"Ok. It doesn't matter if you go to Mercy West today and see your mother or not, but we will wait for you for dinner tonight!" he told Meredith.

"Alright, I will be there!"

Thatcher gave his daughter a kiss and a tight hug. "I am so glad to have you back!"

Thatcher left and Meredith handed Christina one of her suitcases, heading in the opposite direction.

"How is Lexie?" Meredith asked her remembering her cousin. "How come she didn't come with you?"

"Oh, forgive her. She is so hangover that she can't even to get out of the bed and pee!"

"Wild party, huh?" Meredith giggled, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"Yeah, and you know very well what tequila does to you, but speaking of Lexie," Christina stopped, turning to her. "If you still want to live with us, then you have to share a bedroom with her, because we got a new roommate."

"Come on, Christina!" Meredith whined, visibly unhappy with the news. "Why did you have to rent my room?"

"First of all, it's not your room, and secondly, we asked you to be here two months ago, but apparently it takes your moron boyfriend dumping you to get you here."

"He didn't dump me," Meredith jumped to clarify that gossip immediately. "I dumped him," she said, very convincingly.

"Ok," Christina nodded, letting her know that she hadn't been that convincing. "Let's get your things back."

--

_In the meantime, in the same town and the same airport, but at a different flight and a different gate._

"Finally, Derek!"

The waiting area was not very crowded anymore, so Derek could easily spot the black woman who was calling his name. His scowling look lightened up at the sight of that person and he quickened his footsteps pushing the cart heavy with luggage.

"Hi Adele!" Derek set his luggage aside to go and greet the woman he had known for almost a lifetime. Once he got to her, his arms flew around her, bringing her into a strong hug.

"Hello Derek! It's so good to see you again!" Adele hugged him with the same tenderness, very happy to see him.

Derek pulled back, still holding her hands to look more carefully at the woman who had been like a second mother to him. He hadn't seen her for almost two years now, but she was the same charming and smiling lady he knew. "It's good to see you too, Adele."

"But what happened? Why did it take you so long to come out?" Adele asked him a little worried.

"Oh." Derek let out a sigh of frustration. "The airline must have lost a suitcase."

"Did it have anything valuable in it?" She asked.

"No- not really; just clothes."

"Don't worry too much then! Fill out a form and you will get it back."

Derek nodded, his letting her hands go and returning to his cart "After this incident, I must say that I might not like Seattle that much."

"Oh, you're silly, Derek! This town is great," Adele chuckled, gently patting his back as comfortingly.

"Not to mention, how much I hate the rainy weather." Derek needed to add one more point on his list of frustrations.

"The rain can be very romantic," Adele laughed very convincingly. She knew better.

"I can't see anything romantic in getting soaking wet, but whatever," Derek chuckled and gave up. He knew that Adele could be very convincing at times.

"You will love Seattle!" Very cheerfully, she sneaked an arm around his and walked by his side.

Derek looked at her, smiling. "Promise?" he asked as a little child asking for its mommy's comfort because a mommy always keeps her promises.

"Promise. Otherwise I wouldn't have worked so hard with your mother to convince you to move here," Adele smiled.

"By the way, Mom sends you a hug." Taking a hand from the cart, Derek wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "And she wants me to remind you that you haven't visited her in a while."

"I'll see what I can do. Maybe now that you are here, he will take it easier with the work and then I can to leave him alone without worrying." Adele shook her head referring at her husband.

"It's great that you have been able to live with a workaholic man." Derek stated with admiration.

--

As they got to the claims office, an officer escorted Christina out.

"Let go of me right now!" she shouted at him and jerked her arm out of his strong grip. "I need to go be with my friend."

"Sorry, but I can't let you in again if you are going to behave like that." The tall double-sized man from security remained firm and blocked her way, when she tried to pass by him and go back in the office.

"How do you expect me to act if you clearly don't know how to do your jobs?" she responded, freeing her arm from the officer's grip again. She gave him a nasty look, ready for another nasty comment.

"That's it ma'am!" The officer held out a hand to stop her. "You sit right there and wait" He said loud and very harsh pointing. She was about to say something to him but he stopped her. "_In silence_ or I will have to arrest you," he warned her.

She let out a sigh and sat on one of the chairs. Derek and Adele could not help, but laugh at the whole scene. Cristina noticed them and just turned her head away, disgusted. In the meantime, Derek and Adele reached the officer.

"Excuse me, officer, we need to go into the office as well; one of my suitcases is missing," Derek said politely. The officer looked at the two of them, scrutinizing them "It's ok sir, but I'm going to have to ask you to go alone; we have had many problems with the companions today." He looked at Cristina as he made that remark.

"Oh it's okay, officer. I can assure you this lady is going to behave in there," Derek chuckled.

The officer thought about it. They looked like decent people.

"It's ok, Derek. I think I'll just wait here," Adele interjected, smiling.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, you go ahead," Adele smiled and sat down, four chairs away from the one that Christina was sitting in.

Derek walked into the office. As he stepped in, the officer handed him a bunch of forms, "Here sir, you have to fill these out first, please," he said to Derek.

He looked at the papers in her hands and let out a sigh. All these papers for a suitcase?

"You can sit next to that lady, so you'll be more comfortable." The officer pointed to the desk where Meredith was.

Derek kept looking at those papers trying to decide if it was really worth it to try and get that suitcase back. He went to the desk anyway and then, immediately something else caught his attention, rather someone; a beautiful blond girl, angrily filling out the same forms he had to. He chuckled watching her struggle with all the papers and sat next to her.

She was so focused on what she was doing that she didn't seem to be disturbed by Derek's presence at all. He broke her concentration when he talked to her. "Wow, I guess you never thought there was so much paper work to do over a simple suitcase, right?"

He kept admiring her as he spoke, but she responded without even looking back.

"Mhmm"

"Makes you wonder if it is really worth it." He anxiously waited for her response, but all he got was a simple "yeah" from her, again, without catching the color of her eyes.

"Well, maybe for me it isn't. It was just clothes after all. I think I might just buy some in here and a new suitcase," he laughed, but all he managed to do now, was annoy Meredith a little.

She was in a hurry and this man kept distracting her with nonsense. She put the pen down and turned to look at him to tell him to shut up for a minute, but couldn't quite get the words out. As she met his dreamy smile, all she could do was smile back at him and then she took the pen and went back to her forms.

'_Ok what was that?_' she thought to herself _'seriously, what was that?' _she kept repeating to herself, giggling in the back of her mind.

Derek was still trying to decide if he should file the complaint or not. He stood up and started to walk away. He made it a couple of steps, then, he stopped, turned around and started walking back to the table. He didn't really have the time for this, so he turned around once again to leave the office.

The officer who had watched his back and forward movements curiously, decided to interfere. "Aren't you going to fill out the forms, sir?"

Derek looked down at the papers in his hand. He really didn't want to do that, but then turned to look at the girl sitting by the table.

"Yeah … I think I'm going to fill these after all," he said to the officer, then sat down next to Meredith again.

This time she turned to see him. "I thought this wasn't really worthwhile for you," she said.

He smiled at her again. "Yeah well, I really like those clothes."

They both smiled this time and for the first time, Derek met her cute giggle and Meredith met his dreamy smile.

"What about you, is this really worthy of your time?" he asked her, now feeling more relaxed in her presence.

"Yeah, there is something really important for me in that baggage, so I really have to do this." They both laughed

"So, looks like we are going to be stuck in here for a while," he said.

"Yeah," Meredith responded.

"I'm Derek, by the way," he said with a smile, sticking out his hand. Meredith hesitated for a second, and then shook Derek's hand. "I'm Meredith."

"It's nice to meet you, Meredith!" Derek smiled charmingly. When she returned his smile, something made him say something more. "I was starting to hate this town, but now that I met such a pretty woman, I might like it here."

Meredith's gaze froze over him, surprised by his last statement.

Derek noticed Meredith's shock and immediately he realized what he had said and how that must have sounded. "I… uh…. I didn't mean to be rude… or inappropriate."

Meredith nodded and a small smile started growing on her face. His compliment was cute, but his way to excuse himself was even cuter.

"It's fine. I know what you meant," she assured him.

Derek chuckled, calmed by her smiling nonchalant at him, and sighed in relief. He nodded, a little embarrassed, and tried to focus on his papers.

The silence fell back over them as Derek resumed his writing and Meredith resumed hers, or at least that was what she would have wanted. She found herself watching Derek discreetly from the corner of her eye. He was a good-looking man with such gentle facial features, smiling slightly as he focused on those papers.

Derek felt her eyes on him and tried to ignore them. He tried, but he felt as if her eyes were calling him, so he raised his head and looked up at her. He smiled as he caught her eyes on him. Meredith looked down and tried to pretend that nothing special had happened. Maybe a second had passed when Meredith cursed as she shook her pen. "Damn it!"

"What's wrong?" Derek asked her, a little worried.

"This pen doesn't want to write anymore," she sighed as she threw it on desk. Derek smiled and, after he searched through his briefcase, he offered her a pen. "Take this one."

Meredith smiled gratefully as she took it from him. "Thank you!" Her smile went straight to his heart. He found himself staring at her with a foolish grin.

"You may want to finish your papers," Meredith giggled sweetly, pointing to his papers.

Derek snapped back to reality and smiled, trying to hide his embarrassment at being caught. He looked down at his papers without another word, letting Meredith giggle silently.

No other words were spoken until Derek finished with his form. He put the pen inside his coat and sighed as he looked at Meredith. "Uh… good luck, Meredith!"

Meredith looked at him smiling. "Good luck to you too, Derek! I hope that you won't have problems again in this town."

"I have this feeling that I am going to fall in love with this town," he replied as he stood up. He smiled dreamily at her before he nodded and left to drop off his forms.

Meredith finished with her forms, and as she put the pen down she realized something: Derek forgot to take his pen back. She couldn't help but feel bad for making Derek lose his pen. She decided not to leave it there and took it with her.

She returned her forms to the officer and then went outside where Christina looked as if she was about to fall asleep again. Meredith was already drained physically and emotionally, so she trailed off until the chair where Christina was laying. "Get up!" Meredith made her stir as she hit her leg.

Christina jumped to her feet, scared and panting. When she saw her friend's amused smile, she shot her a glare. "Are we ready?"

"We're ready," Meredith answered smiling.

On their way out from parking lot, out of nowhere, a car came out from the same place as them and stopped one inch away from their car. Christina pressed hard the brake pedal, jolting both of them.

Nervous, she pressed the horn shouting at the other driver. "Where is the hurry, you idiot?"

Meredith was pretty pissed off by the incident too, but when she leaned over Christina, she recognized the person who almost hit them. She pulled back instantly and pulled Christina back too. "Stop it! That is Derek."

"Who?" Christina looked at her, confused.

Meredith realized that she hadn't talked with her about the man she met, so she gave up. "Never mind! Let's just go."

Meredith looked again at Derek, and Derek recognized her too. He smiled, waving at her as he mouthed, "I am sorry." And gave her the sign to go ahead.

Meredith smiled back and Christina drove away.

"Oh no!" Meredith sighed after a while.

"What?"

"I should have returned the pen to Derek," she stated, disappointed.

Christina looked at her confused. It was obvious that she had forgotten about the man who almost hit their car.

"Derek… I forgot to give him his pen back."

Christina looked at her as if she was about to burst into laugh. "Did you have sex with that guy in there?"

Meredith laughed and lightly smacked Christina's arm. "Watch the road!"


	2. I missed you

They finally made it home. Cristina helped Meredith with her bags.

"Seriously, what are you carrying here? Rocks?" Cristina asked her as she struggled with the weight.

"Oh, like you are such a light packer. I'm moving back in, Cristina; it's not a temporary thing. I need all my stuff."

They entered the apartment. Lexie was watching some TV program in the living room when she saw Meredith. She ran up to her and put her arms around her. This caught Meredith by surprise and made her drop her bags. She smiled and hugged her cousin back.

"It is so great to see you Lexie!" She had not seen her in months and she wasn't ready to let go of her just yet.

"Oh my god! I missed you so much, Meredith!"

"Well apparently not enough to come pick me up at the airport but whatever."

Lexie frowned, feeling a little guilty. Meredith shook her head and started laughing

"I'm kidding. Cristina told me why you couldn't make it. We all know that the same thing would have happened if it was me so…"

"… So you are not mad?" Lexie smiled hopefully.

Meredith gently rubbed her arm. "No, I'm not mad." Lexie smiled, relieved. "So, can we get to our room now? I have had the longest morning. I would love to take a bath."

"Yeah, let me help you with this," Lexie said as she tried to lift one of the suitcases up. Meredith could see her struggle.

"God, Meredith! What the..."

Meredith interrupted her. "Oh, shut up!!"

They got the suitcases to the room. It was a big room with two beds, one for Lexie, one for Meredith. She was so tired. All she could do at first was throw herself on the bed, but Lexie cleared her throat.

"What?" Meredith asked confused.

Lexie gave her a look. "That is my bed Meredith"

Meredith groaned and reluctantly got out of Lexie's bed and climbed onto hers. She let out a sigh as she laid her head down on the pillow.

"God! It is great to be home." Lexie smiled, watching her cousin.

"Its great that you are here!" she said. "We missed you a lot"

"Yeah, enough to give my room to someone else." Meredith giggled. Lexie gave her a nasty look. "And that was my final complaint… I swear," Meredith replied, laughing. Lexie gave her half a smile. "It will be fun sharing the room with you anyway, it has been so long since we did that, remember?" Meredith continued.

"Yeah, I remember," Lexie said. "You used to come to our house after school, when we had to do those insanely…"

"Long projects," they both finished and laughed, remembering how it was when they were kids. They had the same age, so they went to school together. They always felt more like sisters than cousins and they used to do everything together until Meredith started to travel so much. Lexie was happy she had her sister home again.

"Can you believe that we are about to start our residency?" She let out a sigh and turned to look at the ceiling

"Yeah, I know, do you think we'll all make it? They say the first year is hell!"

"We will make it Lexie, and it's going to be great because we are going to be together again, you, me, and Cristina."

"Yeah...and Izzie too" Meredith turned to Lexie looking confused

"Izzie?" Lexie smiled. "Yeah, she is our roommate, and she is getting into surgery too, isn't that cool?"

Meredith frowned; she was a little territorial when it came to her friends. She would have to meet this Izzie person before she decided if it would be good for her to hang out with them.

Lexie just shook her head, she knew Meredith pretty well and sometimes she could easily read her thoughts. "She is really nice, Meredith; you will love her."

"If you say so…"

Suddenly, she jumped out of the bed. "Ok, I'm going to take a bath. Want to go and grab something to eat after I'm done, maybe… a drink too?" Meredith smiled widely, but Lexie quickly shook her head, remembering all the drinking from the night before and the big hangover she just went through.

"Only food … no drinks for me, thank you."

Meredith laughed. "Yeah, I though so."

"Ok, I'm going to tell Cristina and Izzie." Once again, she got a frown from Meredith when she mentioned Izzie, because for her right now, Izzie was just the person who took her room.

"Meredith!" Lexie snapped.

"What?! I didn't say anything," she said innocently.

"Oh, just get into the shower. We'll wait for you in the living room."

"Fine." With that, Meredith went into the bathroom.

Several minutes later, she came in to the living room to find her three roommates sitting there laughing. She let out a sigh and said, "hello there," which made all of them turn around to face her. Izzie stood up and walked up to her, smiling unusually wide to Meredith's way of thinking. "Hi! I'm Isobel Stevens, but everyone calls me Izzie."

Meredith hesitated a little before finally shaking Izzies hand. "Hi Izzie, I'm Meredith." She smiled at her too. _'Well, at least she seems nice,'_ Meredith thought.

"Can we go now?" Cristina said, because she was really hungry. "I'm starving here."

"Yeah, lets go," Meredith said, grabbing her purse.

They got a table in their favorite restaurant, and sat there talking while waiting for their food to be served.

"So how was the Mixer? We already know Lexie had some fun," Meredith said laughing and got a "shut up" from Lexie.

"Oh yes, Lexie had some fun last night," Cristina playfully raised her eyebrows as she said that to Meredith which made her get all confused, she frowned and Lexie shot Cristina a warning look.

"Shut up Cristina!!" Cristina just laughed and raised her glass

"Oh, come on Lexie, it's not so bad," Izzie said.

"You two! Great, this is great, I have the best friends in the world, the best secret keepers, the..."

Meredith interrupted her. "Alright Lexie, enough with the rambling. Out with it already!"

Lexie mouthed something but Meredith couldn't quite understand it

"What? I didn't hear a word you said." She was about to say something else when Cristina spoke up

"Well, she didn't have fun alone, if you know what I mean."

"Thank you, Cristina," Lexie said, feeling really uncomfortable under Meredith's stare.

That was something _she_ would do, something she would expect even from Cristina, but not from Lexie. She had always been the good girl, so Meredith's jaw dropped when she heard what Cristina said. Then, she turned to Lexie and raised her eyebrows.

"Hey, don't be embarrassed! Was it fun? Is he hot? Come on, I want details!" Meredith urged her, laughing.

Lexie opened her mouth, not saying a word for a second, but then she felt lightheaded again; she was still hangover after all. "Oh my god, I need to go to the bathroom"

Meredith and Cristina laughed. "I'll come with you," Izzie said and followed Lexie to the bathroom. Once they were alone, Cristina stared at Meredith for a second.

"What?" she asked Christina with a funny look.

Cristina was waiting for her to comment on Izzie; she knew as well as Lexie what to expect from Meredith on this matter.

"So Izzie..." Cristina said to give her a hint as Meredith started playing with her napkin

"Well I admit… she seems like a nice person." Cristina smiled at Meredith's answer. "A little too nice," Meredith added. "But it is ok." She smiled.

"Oh, thank God you are here, Meredith." Meredith gave her a funny look "Yeah look, Lexie and Izzie, they are like… really alike. God! Their names even rhyme and you are more like me so now there it's like a tie at home."

Meredith laughed out loud. "You are crazy, Cristina."

"Seriously," Cristina said. "I like Izzie, but she is too Izzie sometimes and has Lexie to back her up and now my back up is here."

Meredith shook her head and gave her friend a big smile "Well, you know I'm your person."

"Mhm." They raised their glasses and continued with their drinks. As Lexie and Izzie returned to the table, the four of them continue talking, Lexie told Meredith all about her guy. They talked some more about the party, and getting ready for their internship. They still had a few days before they had to start but they were really anxious and a little nervous about it.


	3. Meredith's dinner

It was another rainy summer evening in Seattle and an SUV was rolling down the highway. Inside of it, Lexie was driving, while Meredith was leaning her head against the window on the passenger side.

"Mer?" Lexie smiled as she checked her cousin with a glance. For a while now, Meredith seemed to be daydreaming.

Meredith's thoughts were replaying flashbacks from the past years while Lexie was driving them to the dinner with her parents. She left Seattle alone. She and Lexie had made plans to go together, but when Meredith was admitted at Dartmouth and Lexie at Harvard, their lives took different paths. They needed to get on their own without families and enjoy the freedom.

In college, Meredith met Cristina and since day one, they had become the best friends, although Cristina transferred her studies to Stanford one year later. One year was enough for them to form a life-long relationship. All three of them talked and decided to reunite in Seattle.

Meredith was the one who came up with this proposal. Why? Because she had to face the real world and discovering she was a grown-up, she freaked out. She thought that Seattle, back home at her parents and family, was the best place to hide from responsibilities. Maybe she was right… or maybe not.

"Mer!!" Lexie shouted to bring her out of her trance.

Meredith flinched, covering her chest with her palm as she felt her heart jumping out of chest. "What?" she snapped back, annoyed and scared at the same time.

Lexie calmed down and instantly grinned at her. "Aren't I good?" Meredith looked at her strangely. Lexie chuckled and pressed the gas peddle to drive faster. "Where were you?"

"Where was I when?" Meredith questioned, confused, although she knew what Lexie was referring to.

Lexie didn't want to let the road out of her sight, so she quickly glanced at her cousin. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Meredith answered simply.

"You miss Matt," Lexie stated. She glanced at Meredith again, checking for her answer.

"Kind of." Meredith always found it easy to open up in front of Lexie.

"Regret him?" Lexie asked.

Meredith shook her head. "Surprisingly… no. It's just… the custom… you know."

"That's good then." Lexie smiled at her warmly. "You can find many McDreamies here in Seattle."

Meredith looked at her and her face expression looked as if she was about to crack up. "Mc…Dreamy, huh?" Meredith hardly contained her laughter.

Lexie gave her a nasty look as she saw her mocking her.

Meredith shook her head, giggling. "Now, seriously, Lexie," she started. "We are going to be surgeons, for God's sake … hardcores. You have to stop dreaming of fairytales. Fairytales don't match with surgeons."

Lexie rolled her eyes. "You think you know them all, but one day you will find out that you don't." She stated knowingly and refused to let her cousin's words hurt her.

Meredith felt a little guilty for the way she talked to her, although she still believed in what she said. "I am sorry! Now, tell me about this new McDreamy of yours."

"How do you know I have a new McDreamy?" Lexie asked curiously.

Meredith giggled and rolled her eyes. "We are talking here about… McDreamies, so? Spit it out! You never mention that name unless there is an owner of it in your life."

Lexie smiled as if she was a teenager in love.

"Besides," Meredith added. "Christina hinted something about it last night."

"His name is Alex." Lexie finally decided to confess. She lifted her foot slowly from the gas peddle to be able to talk and drive safely at the same time. "He is a surgical intern like us."

"Oh, so you are going to be co-workers, huh?" Meredith smiled suggestively.

Lexie giggled. "He is cute."

"Lexie, you can't fall for a man that you only got to know in bed."

Lexie looked at her with an eyebrow lifted. "You are the one to talk," she stated with sarcasm.

Meredith faked a smile, annoyed by Lexie's truth. She was a one-night stand person as well, but she never fell in love for any of them; she just had a few crushes. But love? No.

"You do believe in fairytales." Meredith spoke, more to herself. "That's good." She finally admitted, looking at Lexie.

Lexie smiled warmly and her right hand found Meredith's hand. She gave it a gentle, comforting squeeze. "Maybe you will believe in it one day like you did when you were a little girl." Meredith smiled, grateful for her encouragement. "Or at least to believe in love. You only need courage, Mer! That's all it takes to make you happy."

"Yeah," Meredith sighed, leaning her head against window. She thought she was brave, but life and its responsibilities proved her wrong. She was weak.

--

The two girls soon arrived at the Greys' house. It was a new place for Meredith. Her parents decided to move into a quieter neighborhood, somewhere closer to Mercy West.

She looked at all the look-alike houses spaciously spread on each side of the road. They were all big houses, extravagantly decorated by their rich owners. Meredith felt strange in this place. Nothing was familiar. Lexie, who was standing beside her, was the only familiar thing.

Lexie had pulled the car in front of a long pathway, which led to one of the houses. "So this is their new place?" Meredith asked, scanning the entire structure.

"It's a very nice place," Lexie said with admiration. Meredith noticed Lexie's gaze, though she wasn't there for the first time, she understood. That was what Lexie was dreaming of. That was her dream house and her dream neighborhood for her dream family.

Meredith looked back over the house. Yeah, it looked pretty.

A big drop hit the top of Meredith's head and made her aware of the impending rain. "I think we should go inside," she said, wiping her head.

Lexie looked up over the sky and then was the first time she felt the rain. "Yeah," she agreed cheerfully and grabbed Meredith by the hand, dragging her after her.

They stopped on the small porch and Lexie rang the doorbell. She was part of the family, but she had been taught to be respectful to everyone.

Meredith smiled, amused to see that they were actually ringing and waiting at her parent's house. She had never done that before, in all her homecomings.

Lexie rang once and waited patiently for an answer. It was a lovely August evening, despite the slow rain; the air was still warm and fresh. While waiting to be invited inside, Meredith turned around to give another look to the surroundings. The lawn was huge. They didn't have something like that when she was a child, but she didn't regret it. A huge lawn could have meant more work for her. She would have had to cut the grass or clean it. She couldn't help wonder who was taking care of their lawn. Tiny bushes marked the boundaries with the neighbors' yards and the sidewalk.

The answer to their call was late to come, so Lexie rang the doorbell again, while Meredith decided to make the time pass faster. She noticed the small lamps hidden between bushes and analyzed the distance between them. There was a lamp at every third bush.

"I think we should just walk in," Lexie said with a sigh and made Meredith turn to her.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to realize that." Meredith giggled and grabbed the doorknob. She twisted it once and the door clicked. She pushed it open and walked inside, closely followed by Lexie.

As she stepped inside, Meredith found herself in a large, very poor lighted hall. On what looked like wooden tapestry were hanging small pictures with cats. Meredith smiled at the familiar arrangement. Her father loved the cats.

Muffled voices could be heard coming from somewhere further in and what startled Lexie and Meredith was the loud sound of metal hitting the floor. They looked at each other for a second and then Lexie grabbed Meredith's hand and urged her to follow her at a sprint. They turned right at a corner and then they turned left, making Meredith feel like she was in a labyrinth.

They stopped in front of what looked like a dining room/kitchen. Did they just pass through a labyrinth to get to kitchen? Meredith giggled silently. She was happy she didn't live there otherwise she would starve.

Arriving in the doorway, the girls found the two hosts bent over a pot that Ellis had apparently dropped. "I told you to stay away from my pans, Ellis!" Thatcher Grey shouted nervously at his wife while they were picking up the few potatoes and carrots that had dropped from it.

"This is my kitchen too, Thatcher and if I want to do something for my daughter, I don't need your permission for it." Ellis wasn't late to retort.

"You can impress your daughter using other methods, not making her starve." Thatcher cut her off and stood up to bring the pot back to the counter. In that moment, he saw Meredith and Lexie standing in the doorway. "Meri!" he exclaimed happily, making Ellis leave her cleaning and hurry to her.

"Meredith, honey!" She came over to her daughter and gave her a strong hug. "It's so good to see you!"

Meredith hugged her back, but pulled away. She loved her parents, but she wasn't really a person that likes the hugs. "It's good to see you too, Mom! What are you two doing in here?" Meredith asked, looking amusedly at her father who was wiping the floor from Ellis's mess.

"Your mother _tried_ to help me," Thatcher answered.

Ellis looked back at him with a deadly glare, before sweetening her look for her daughter and her niece. "Hi, Lexie!"

"Good evening Aunt Ellis, Uncle Thatch!" Lexie greeted them and stepped into the kitchen to go help her uncle. "Let me take care of this," she offered, taking the rag from him to clean the floor.

"Thank you, Lexie!" Thatcher answered gratefully and moved to his other pots and pans. "It looks like we won't have garnish for the roasted chicken."

"Shut up, Thatcher!" Ellis said. "We don't like your vegetables anyway." She quipped, smiling at Meredith. "Let's go sit down and you can tell me what you think about Seattle after all these years." Ellis led Meredith to the dinning table and both women sat down. "Are you going to live with your friends in that small apartment of yours?"

"Mom!" Meredith groaned. "We can't afford to live in our old house." Ellis opened her mouth to say something, but Meredith anticipated her words. "Don't even think about it, Mom. We want to be on our own and that is what we are doing. We don't want our parents to pay for our housing."

Thatcher's attention was on their dinner, but also to the discussion between the two women. He looked up at his brother's daughter and saw her sighing. He knew Lexie would have wanted something bigger. She had always been daddy's little girl and received everything from the second she expressed her wish. Meredith was 6 months older than Lexie and therefore she was like a role model for her cousin. Meredith's ambition of being on her own determined that Lexie would follow her example, but people who knew her could see what big efforts she was making. The Greys' old house was bigger and more comfortable than their small apartment. Thatcher squeezed Lexie's arm and winked comfortingly. Lexie answered with an ashamed smile, knowing that she had been caught.

"Fine, I am done with this." Ellis decided to drop the topic about the girls' housing. "How are you post-Matt?" she asked her daughter.

Meredith giggled. "You are saying it as if someone died. I'm fine…really," Meredith said in a convincing voice, looking at her parents, in particular at her father. "We weren't a match, so someone had to take this step."

"That's good, Meredith!" Ellis said proudly and put her hand over Meredith's hand. "You are a surgical resident and your career has to remain your first priority. You are young and you still have plenty of time to build a family."

"Ellis!" Thatcher interrupted nervously.

"What?" Ellis shouted back. "Don't worry! You will live long enough to see your daughter as a wife and mother."

"If you keep giving her encouragement like that, then I'll be 99 years old to meet my son-in-law and my first grandchild."

"I'm a doctor, Thatcher! Your daughter and niece also have great futures in this field, so your medical insurance is guaranteed."

"Mom!" Meredith cut her off nervously. "Can you please stop talking about death? We'll see where the future leads us. Maybe I'll get pregnant next month or I'll decide to get married to the first man I meet."

Ellis made a frightened face, as if she was having a heart attack. "If you want to see me buried at this early age then do it."

"Don't dramatize, Ellis!" Thatcher came over to table bringing with him the bowl with the soup. "But your mother is right! I want to see you settled at your house with your family, but do it only when you will feel ready for it and after you found the right man," he told Meredith.

"I was just joking, Dad." Meredith smiled, ashamed. "I'm taking a break from men for a while. I've had enough of them."

"You sound more like your mother each day." Thatcher shook his head as he took Meredith's bowl to fill it with soup.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ellis retorted, offended.

"It means that I feel sorry for the man you will decide to settle in her life," Thatcher replied calmly and, together with Lexie, they sat down at the table.

"If you want to get married, at least do it with a doctor," Ellis whispered to her daughter. "Preferably a surgeon and the same thing is valid for you too, Lexie!"

"Eat, Ellis!" Thatcher pushed the bowl closer to Ellis and put a spoon in her hand to make her shut up.


	4. Derek's dinner

As Derek and Adele arrived at the Webber residence, Derek got out of the car, went to the other side, and opened the door for Adele. It was already raining so he opened an umbrella for her, and they started walking toward the door.

"So, how do you like it so far?" Adele asked him, but seeing his expression, she could tell what answer she would get

"Rainy weather Adele, rainy weather," he said, running his finger through his already wet hair

"You will get used to it, darling." She smiled warmly at him, and pulled him a little closer so he could get under the umbrella. He shook his head, she quickly opened the door and they stepped inside.

"Have a seat, dear! I'll go and get Richard," Adele invited and walked along the spacious hallway and disappeared behind a door, which Derek presumed was Richard's office.

As he walked into the living room, Derek examined the surroundings. The house was big and everything was so neat and elegant, reflecting Adele's taste. He had just sat down on the couch when Adele came in fuming.

"What's wrong?" Derek asked her fearfully, though he suspected the reason for Adele's anger.

Adele smiled kindly and shook her head. "I'm sorry!" she said, smiling politely. "It's just… Richard, you know. I asked him to stay home today and be here for your arrival, but he can't stay away from his true love."

Hearing Adele's words, Derek looked at her, worried. "Oh no, no." Adele giggled guessing his thoughts. "Medicine… sometimes I have the feeling that he doesn't love anything else but medicine."

"Adele." Derek stood up, smiling and came over to her. He put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her on the cheek. "He would be lost without you."

"Let me give you some advice, Derek!" Adele smiled, taking Derek's hand in hers. "When you find the right girl and you put a ring on her finger, stay faithful to your love for her."

"Richard loves you, Adele. He just has some different ways of showing it," Derek replied warmly.

Adele chuckled and gently patted his cheek. "You are a good boy, Derek, and the girl who finds you will be the luckiest girl in the world."

Derek smiled and shook his head. "I should have been born twenty years earlier," he said.

"You're charming, Derek." Adele laughed and wrapped an arm around his to lead him back to the couch. "I have to say that any old woman like me would be more than pleased to hear a compliment like that."

"You're not old!" Derek replied as if that was the silliest thing to say.

"Now you are becoming too cheesy," Adele warned him, but very amused by his pleasant company.

They stayed there chatting for a while, mostly about Derek's mother, Elisabeth Marie Malone-Shepherd. Adele and Elisabeth used to be the best of friends in High School and kept a strong relationship until the day that Richard Webber had to start his internship in Seattle. Despite the distance and all the years that had passed, Adele and Elisabeth continued to stay in touch with each other and they spent most holidays together.

Adele stood up and took Derek's arm when she saw him yawning. "You must be tired and I'm keeping you here for the latest gossips from Manhattan. Come, you need to lay down for while."

Derek agreed, yawing again and stood up to follow Adele. He was indeed tired, so a bed was sounding better than anything else was in that moment.

--

Later, when Derek opened his eyes, darkness had fallen over his room and rain was dripping along the window.

A little confused, Derek stood up and checked his watch. Then he gave a look around him and everything came back to his mind. He got up from the bed and walked over to the window. Leaning his forearm against the window, he let his forehead rest on it watching the wet street and the rain forming larger puddles with each drop.

Such a depressing town, he thought, but depressing was his life too. Maybe he should have gone somewhere sunny… California maybe. Yeah, he could try that; one of his teachers from Memorial Hospital where he did his residency, was a chief of surgery in L.A.

Derek's thoughts were soon interrupted by some voices, which were sounding more like shouts. He decided he should return to his hosts and see what was going on.

Coming down the stairs, Derek met Adele who was coming upstairs.

"Oh you are up," Adele said, smiling and stopped to take Derek. "I was coming to check on you. Dinner is ready," she continued. "Did you sleep well?"

Derek nodded, smiling. He wasn't quite sure about how well he slept, because he never could sleep well in rainy weather, but he had been too exhausted to feel or hear anything else.

Adele led him downstairs and they stepped into the living room together, where Richard was reading a newspaper by the light of a lamp.

From the moment he heard them coming in, Richard put the newspaper aside and stood up to greet Derek. Richard had deep admiration for Derek and was truly happy to have him in Seattle, better yet working for him at the hospital.

Adele let go of Derek's arm to let him greet one of his mentors and watched them shaking hands.

"It is great to have you here, Derek." Richard patted Derek's shoulder affectionately.

Derek smiled awkwardly at Richard's warm greeting and at Adele's hospitality. He was still not sure if moving to Seattle was a good idea. "Good to be here," he replied politely.

They sat down and started talking; they had so much to catch up on since both families were very close. The talk went pleasantly until Adele checked her watch.

"Now, where is that son of yours?" she asked Richard.

"Oh, he is only mine now?" he replied, smiling.

"Yes, he is, when he does things like this. He knew we had company; he should have been here a long time ago." Richard rubbed her arm

"Relax, honey. He must be at the hospital." Adele pulled her arm away from him

"Exactly, and see why I say your son? He got that from you! You two can't stay away from that damn hospital for 5 minutes." She was a little mad now; she loved her husband and son, but sometimes she felt a little abandoned, because they were always working. Richard took her hand. "Life as a surgeon, Adele. Our time isn't our own sometimes." She just shook her head.

Derek looked at them. He was feeling a little uncomfortable now.

"Uhmm, you know, about that... I could find my own place you know, I don't have to move in with your son... I-"

Adele cut him off. "Oh that is nonsense, darling; his roommate just moved out, so he needs a new one anyway, and it will be good for you to have someone you know around. Remember how much you used to hang out together when you were kids?"

Derek thought about it and decided to give it a try. After all, Adele was right. They were the only ones he knew in the city so far... Well. them and a certain blonde that crossed his mind. As he started thinking about her, a smile came across his face, but Adele interrupted his thoughts about Meredith. "So, you like the idea, do you?" she asked Derek, thinking that his smile was because of that.

Derek cleared his throat. "Oh yeah… sure" He decided to just avoid the subject.

Suddenly, they heard the door open. "Finally," Adele said as her son stepped into the living room. He walked to them and kissed his mother's forehead. "I'm so sorry, Mother." Adele gave him a disapproving look at first, but she could not resist his son's charm for long, so she smiled. "Long time no see," Derek said to him.

"Derek," he said as he held out his hand.

"Preston," Derek replied as he shook his hand.

Richard stood in the middle and put his arms around both of them "It's going to be great having you two boys working at the hospital."

They both gave him funny looks. "You do realize that we are grown men, right, Richard?"

Everyone laughed. Then they went to the table to have dinner. It was a little awkward now for Derek and Preston; they had not seen each other in a long time. Adele was right, they were really good friends when they were kids, but grew a little competitive when both of them decided to go to med school. They remained friends in spite of that; it was a good thing that they had both picked different specialties.

"So, how are the brains going?" Preston asked, trying to break the ice a little with Derek

"Brains are good, and I must say, I was surprised to hear you were going for cardio. I figured you'd choose general, like Richard." Richard smiled. He was really proud of his son, even if he opted for a different specialty than his.

"Well, what can I say? I'm a heart man," he replied as he grabbed another bite of food.

"I hope you keep that in mind when you find the right woman for you, darling," Adele added, also trying to turn the conversation around. She was trying to make it a little less about medicine.

"Here we go again," Preston said shaking his head.

"What? I'm just saying it wouldn't be wrong if you had that woman now, you know, instead of a different one every week."

"I do not..." Preston protested. The whole thing made Derek laugh.

"Yeah, Preston, maybe it's time for you to settle down, have kids."

Preston almost choked on his food as Derek continued. "I bet your mom would love to have grandchildren," Derek added as Preston shot him a look.

"You give them to her then. She is always saying how you are like a son to her." He smiled. Now it was Derek who was choking.

Richard started laughing. "Just like old times," he said. "You two were always teasing each other."

"Well, I'll take grandchildren from either of you or, better yet, both," Adele said, looking hopefully at both of them. Derek and Preston just shared a terrified look.

"I... I'm going to go back to my food now," Derek said.

"Yeah, me too," Preston added.

They needed to get off the subject already. Preston was nowhere near ready to be a father yet, or even settle down with one woman. He loved being single. Adele's comments freaked Derek out a little too. He was more stable in terms of relationships than Preston, but he was not ready to have kids, and then there she was again in his head, the blond girl from the airport... Meredith. _'Seriously, why does she keep popping into my head?'_ he thought.

They resumed eating and then had some beers and Adele had some wine before Preston and Derek left for their apartment.


	5. Somewhere sunny

Preston showed Derek the place and helped him put his bags in the bedroom.

"Wow. This is a nice place," Derek said.

"Yeah, it is!" Preston agreed with a nod. "So Seattle... I've never pictured you coming here."

"Yeah, I still don't know...I guess I wanted a change of scenery," Derek replied as he started unpacking a few things.

"Great, then! You don't have to work tomorrow, right?" Preston asked.

"No, not yet," Derek answered, taking more clothes out of a suitcase.

"Well, I don't have to work until tomorrow afternoon, so we could go grab some beers. I'll show you around a little," his friend suggested.

"Sounds good," Derek agreed reluctantly. He wasn't really in the mood to go outside and get soaked. He also didn't know if there was anything interesting to see in this city.

They got out of the apartment and went to one of Preston favorite places: Joe's bar. They had a few beers and, after a few minutes. a girl that Preston knew came by the table. He introduced her to Derek and some minutes later, she went to the bathroom. Preston took the chance to ask Derek for a favor. "Hmm, Derek?"

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Would you mind taking a cab home? I'm really sorry but..." he glanced in the direction of the bathroom and Derek got the hint.

"It's ok, don't worry," he smiled, shaking his head.

"Thanks, man." Preston patted Derek's back.

"Just go make your mom a grandchild." He laughed while Preston gave him a nasty look.

A minute later the girl was back at the table and Preston left the bar with her, leaving Derek behind. He moved to the bar and started talking with Joe, who Preston had introduced when they got there.

"So he ditched you for the girl?" Joe said, more a statement than a question.

"Ha-ha, yeah, but it's ok! It's the men's code." Derek sighed, a little disappointed, though he smiled politely at Joe. Now he was abandoned in Seattle.

"Do you want me to call you a cab?" Joe kind of felt Derek's disappointment and offered his help.

"No it's ok!" Derek assured him. "I think I will have a couple of beers before I go home." Joe nodded and went to get Derek another beer.

--

The evening went by pleasantly at the Greys' residence. They spent most of the evening talking about families and memories they shared together.

"You know you can stop by Mercy West whenever you want, if you want to take a peek in the OR," Ellis told the two girls while she and her husband were walking them to the door.

"I think we will accept your offer, Aunt Ellis." Lexie smiled and looked at Meredith for her approval.

"Yeah, we will," Meredith agreed.

"But only you two. I'll give you some scrubs because I don't want anyone to notice people from outside the hospital," Ellis warned them.

"Oh, don't worry about that," Lexie assured her.

"Good night, Mom! Good night, Dad!" Meredith waved to her parents from the doorway.

"Good night!" Lexie waved to them too and followed her cousin to their car.

Lexie's SUV left the driveway and sped up as it reached the highway.

"Where are we going?" Meredith asked her when she saw that Lexie was taking her a different route.

"Some place cool." Lexie smirked at her. "At our future workplace."

"Seattle Grace?" Meredith asked, surprised. "Are you crazy? What are we going to do there at this hour?" She asked amused.

"At this hour, there aren't too many doctors, so we could take this chance and pay the place a visit," Lexie explained.

Meredith smiled at her. It sounded like a great plan, but it was a dangerous one also. "I bet we'll meet Cristina there."

"We will, along with Izzie and Alex," Lexie said, smiling excitedly.

"Oh, so I am going to meet McDreamy, huh?" Meredith giggled.

Lexie glanced at her, smiling, then returned her attention to the road. "I would prefer not to call him McDreamy. He is not that type."

"How many times did you sleep with him?" Meredith asked her curiously.

Lexie rolled her eyes, kind of annoyed by her cousin's curiosity. She decided to answer. "Once."

"Then how can you say you know anything about him? See? This is the difference between you and me. I never fall for my one-night stands," Meredith said, rolling her eyes and leaning her head against the window.

"Getting to know him over time is much more fun," Lexie replied, very convincing. "It's like a constant joyride."

Meredith gave her a strange look. "Do you realize how stupid that sounds?" she asked her. Lexie frowned at her question, offended. "I'm sorry," Meredith apologized when she saw her cousin upset. "Why waste the time in getting to know a man who you probably won't want to spend the rest of your life with when you can try and learn more about him quickly so you can get rid of him in time if he is a dud."

"I don't even know why I am bothering to have a talk with you about love. You've never been in love," Lexie said calmly. She was always very convinced in her beliefs. "Don't!" Lexie held out a hand to cut off Meredith's words when she saw her ready to reply. "Your crushes weren't the same thing as love. You will find true love one day and then you will understand my words."

Meredith rolled her eyes and dropped the topic. She never felt comfortable talking about love, maybe because she was jealous of her cousin. Deep down, Meredith was curious to find out what love was.

Several minutes later, Lexie pulled her SUV into the parking lot of Seattle Grace Hospital. The second the engine died, someone showed up at Meredith's window, starling her. "Cristina!" Meredith protested, furious and pushed the door open purposely hitting her friend.

"Ouch!" Cristina protested back and stepped back from Meredith's door. "Nice greeting," she said, sarcastically.

"Hi Mer! Hi Lexie!" Their blonde friend showed up, too cheerful as she greeted her friends.

"Meredith," Meredith retorted, a little annoyed by Izzie's too friendly attitude and shut the door.

"Mer!" Lexie snapped at Meredith, scolding her for her rude behavior.

"That's ok," Izzie interjected as cheerful and kind as always. "She must be tired." Meredith groaned in annoyance and passed by Izzie to go ahead. "Or just unfriendly," Izzie added.

Lexie shot another look at Meredith and she knew she had to apologize. "I'm sorry Izzie. I am kind of tired actually, and I'm still trying to adjust here, and well on my first night back on Seattle we are breaking and entering." Izzie smiled, letting her know she had accepted her apology, and the others just laughed.

"Oh come on! The hospital is a public place. It's not like we are here to rob or anything like that," Lexie argued.

"Oh, you know what I meant! We are not supposed to be here," Meredith said, still not understanding the sudden need her friends had to be here at this hour.

"Ok, Meredith…shut up. Let's go inside already," Cristina said to her, giving her a warning look.

Meredith pouted, before finally following her friends, who were looking back at her waiting for her to move

"I bet this was your idea. This has Cristina written all over it." Cristina gave her a nasty look for her comment, then, she just grabbed her arm and pulled her inside. They got to the locker room.

"Ok, what are we doing here?" Meredith asked her friends; they all shared a look and then looked at Meredith, smiling while they pulled blue scrub uniforms out of their purses.

"What is that? Oh my God, you brought scrubs!" She was astonished. Her friends had lost it for sure.

"Duh! How else did you expect us to walk around the hospital at this hour?" Cristina replied.

"No civilians allowed after visiting hours, remember?" Lexie added.

"You guys are crazy, did you know that?" Meredith said in a rather annoyed way.

"Hey, don't worry we brought some for you too," Izzie said with a smile as she got some other scrubs out of her purse and handed them to Meredith.

Meredith rolled her eyes. She could not believe her friends, but there was no way out of it now, so she simply took them. They all got into the scrubs, then, Meredith once again turned to her friends, holding her clothes on her on one hand. "And what are we suppose to do with these?"

"Don't worry, Mer, we already got locker assignments although since you weren't here before…." Lexie said to her.

"Great, so you all have lockers but me?"

"It's ok, you can share mine until you get yours. I tell you the combination," Lexie offered in her usual kind way.

They stashed their things in the lockers and left the room. As they wandered the halls of the hospital, they noticed how empty it was. Meredith gave disapproving looks to her friends the whole way. She was more of a party girl, even though she really loved the fact that she was becoming a surgeon. She'd rather be out at the moment, having fun while they still could. She knew as soon as their residency started, the party would be over. As they walked through another empty hall, a hand came out of a room and made the girls scream. A guy came out of the room, nervous about all the noise they were making.

"Would you just shut up, they are going to hear us," he said in a loud whisper.

"Oh my god! Alex, you scared the hell out of us. You don't jump out at people like that," Lexie said as she hit his arm.

The others were shocked as well.

"Jesus! I almost had a heart attack," Izzie said, holding a hand to her chest.

Cristina on the other hand recovered pretty fast from such a scare and hit Alex. "You moron, you almost got us caught!"

Meredith didn't say anything at first. Then, as she realized who he was, she spoke up in a slightly high voice. "Oh my god! You are Alex!!"

Everyone raised their hands and motioned for her to shut up.

"So, you told her about me?" Alex said proudly, giving Lexie a smirk.

She felt embarrassed and everyone could see that in her face.

"I still think this is stupid! We will get to do this in a few days, and we won't need to sneak in."

"Well, I have a good case on my hands right now. Come on, Lexie." He grabbed her hand and opened the door of the room he had just come out of. Cristina tried to follow inside but Alex stopped her.

"Where do you think you are going? We are going to be crowded in there, go get your own case, Yang. There are plenty around."

Cristina shut him a look. "Ok…seriously what do you see in him, Lexie? He is…. Uhmm."

"Let me help you with that," Alex interrupted, immediately cutting Cristina off. "Hmm… handsome, sex God, soon to be one of the greatest plastic surgeons in the world." He smiled in a teasing way.

"Oh, just shut up and get in there, Evil Spawn!" Cristina replied, feeling a little annoyed by his rudeness.

Alex and Lexie went into the room as the other three girls made their way to the OR floor. As Lexie entered the room, she went to check on the chart but the look on her face revealed it was not one of those cool cases she expected to find.

"Ok, what is this? This is just an old semi comatose guy," Lexie said to Alex, demanding an explanation.

"Exactly." He smiled in a dirty way, letting Lexie know of his true intentions.

"Seriously? Do you expect us to have sex in here, with the old guy?" Lexie answered, feeling a little disgusted.

"Well, I had plans for one of the on call rooms, but all those were busy," he replied, acting all innocent.

"Whatever, I'm not going to do it in here."

"Oh come on!! It's not like the guy can hear us." He was pleading a little this time.

"My answer is still no. You promised me a good case and this is not it." She folded her arms against her chest.

"Hey, I have a good case, but first…" He walked close to her and put his hands on her waist. He pulled her closer and started kissing her neck. This made Lexie let out a moan of pleasure; she closed her eyes and let go a little but when as she opened them again she met with the image of that man on the bed and pulled away from Alex.

"Ewww no! I can't! I can't do it, Alex! I'm sorry!"

He let out a sigh. He knew he was not going to win this and at that moment he wasn't feeling like it was such a great idea either. Then something else came to mind. He shot her another dirty look. "Supply closet? I bet those are free."

"That will do." She didn't need much convincing about this. She wanted this so badly and a supply closet sounded just perfect at the moment, so he took her hand and pulled her out of the room. He was in such a hurry to get her out of her clothes. They started making out the minute they opened the door to the closet and, as they closed it, they started undressing each other. They were there because they could not wait until their internships started, but at the same time they were deeply attracted to each other and sex in a hospital, even if it was in a supply closet, felt so good to them. They would have time to get to those cool cases later.

In the mean time, up on the OR floor, Meredith, Cristina and Izzie wandered the halls in a suspicious way. Meredith had to admit at that point she was feeling really excited to be there. The three girls turned a corner and almost bumped into a blonde surgeon.

She was wearing red scrubs and a flower cap. The three girls shared nervous looks. They were busted. They were going to get kicked out of the program for sure and they hadn't even started. The blonde woman stared at them. She was really serious and quiet at first, which made the girls get more scared, if that was possible. Then she finally spoke to them

"Are you interns?" She continued to stare at them.

Meredith's lips opened up to say something but her two friends stood in front of her and answered first.

"Yes, we are," Cristina and Izzie said at the same time.

Meredith shot them an accusing look. They were in enough trouble already, lying was not going to help that.

"Good, I'm here on a special consult. I'm about to go into surgery and I need two interns."

Cristina and Izzie were quick to raise their hands; Meredith just let them have it, although she was tempted to do the same.

"Fine. You two are scrubbing in with me on a valve replacement," the woman said. This made Cristina's and Izzie's eyes grow wide with excitement. They were scrubbing in on an advanced procedure. Meredith could not believe her friends; she just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Tell your resident you are scrubbing in with Dr. Erica Hahn and then come meet me in the OR," the blonde doctor said to them, turning around and walking away, leaving a giggling Cristina and Izzie and a speechless Meredith. Cristina and Izzie turned to her and their smiles faded a little.

"Oh, don't worry, honey. We will get you a cool procedure too," Izzie said, rubbing her arm.

Meredith shot her a deadly glare. "I hope you two enjoy this, because after you get caught this will be your last surgery."

Cristina mocked her. "You are just jealous because you don't get to scrub in."

"What? I am not!" Part of her was, but she would never admit it.

"Oh my God! Let's go already! We are going to rock this," Izzie said with an overly excited tone in her voice.

"So what are you going to do now?" Cristina asked Meredith.

She raised her eyebrows and asked her friend in teasing way. "Oh, you think I'm going to miss this? I'm so going to the gallery now, and I'll be a witness when you two get killed in there." She started laughing.

Cristina frowned. "Oh just shut up! Come on Izzie! Let's go!"

"Yay!!" Izzie was trying hard not to jump up and down. She was way passed her usual happy state at the moment.

"Let's not get carried away, shall we?" Cristina gave her one of her usual comebacks, although she was just as happy as Izzie at the moment.

The two of them left for the scrub room while Meredith found her way to the gallery. She observed from up there as her friends got in on this cool surgery. She was so jealous at the moment. Being up there, watching the OR made her realize how badly she wanted to be down there.

She had a tremendous weight on her shoulders being Ellis Grey daughter. Sometimes she had doubts, and she frequently found herself questioning whether or not this was really what she wanted, or if she did it only to please her mother. She also asked herself so many times if she was good enough to be a surgeon, but at that moment, all her doubts left her. This was it. This is what she really wanted. She was a surgeon. Well, she wanted to be one and if she was down there in that OR, she knew she would have to totally rock it.

At first she was sitting, but when Dr Hahn said, "Scalpel," she stood up in front of the glass, pressing her hands on it as if she wanted to go through it, looking intensely at the procedure. She also haa a few laughs every time she got a glimpse of her friends. She shook her head when she saw how nervous Izzie looked. And Cristina, she was more of a hardcore person, but she was her person and Meredith knew her so well, she could tell, even if she was not showing it, that she was scared to death. After some minutes, she could see them getting a little relaxed. Several minutes passed, it was a long procedure and soon Meredith found herself sitting again and feeling a little bored. Suddenly, something made her jump up.

"Are you new?" a young man asked her.

She was speechless for a moment. First of all, he had given her quite a scare, and second, she was not suppose to be here. Lexie was doing God knows what with Alex and Cristina and Izzie were scrubbing in on a surgery and she is the one to get caught. She just nervously stared at him and then he offered his hand.

"I'm William! I'm a second year resident."

She hesitated a little before finally shaking his hand. "Meredith."

"What year are you in?" That question made her want to run.

"I hmm I've got to go. Sorry!" She got out of the gallery as fast as she could.

_That was close_, she thought as she made it around a corner and leaned her back on the wall, trying to catch her breath.

_That's it! I have to get out of here,_ she thought. She found the locker room again and changed into her clothes. She shoved the scrubs into her purse and started walking out of the hospital.

As she passed by one of the nurses' stations, she heard them talking about this bar across the street.

_I could have a drink,_ she thought. Since her friends were having fun with their fancy procedures, she decided to have some fun on her own with one of her best friends... tequila. She made her way across the street and entered the bar.

As Meredith stepped inside the bar, she discovered what a popular place it was to hang out after work. People were laughing, chatting, some of them were already tipsy; it was crowded and loud. She decided to give it a try and walked straight to the bar. She easily spotted the only available barstool at the bar and hurried to occupy it.

A big, tall man behind the bar was chatting with each customer, which made Meredith realize that all those people were regular customers, part of the hospital's staff. She looked around her at all those people: her soon-to-be co-workers. She sighed and twisted around on the barstool, propping her forearms on the counter.

"Hey." The bartender greeted her cheerfully. "Another new face!" he exclaimed, coming to stand in front of her. A friendly smile crossed his lips, a natural one from what Meredith could see.

She smiled back and nodded. "But please stop saying it as if another alien has landed in this bar." She giggled.

The bartender smiled at her while drying his hands and through the rag on a side of the bar. "I remember faces." He winked.

"Good! Then memorize mine." Meredith giggled and glanced at the well-stocked bar. This could be one of her favorite places in Seattle.

"So you are going to work across the street as well," the bartender concluded and held out friendly his hand. "Joe."

Meredith smiled and shook his hand. "Meredith"

Meredith seemed to be a word that produced a reaction in one of the customers, one seat down from her.

Meredith and Joe noticed the strange reaction immediately. Meredith glanced discreetly in the direction, but the glance turned into a gaze.

_Was he… Derek?_

She broke the gaze, hiding her flushed face from his sight.

One seat down from Meredith, Derek was playing with his now almost empty bottle of beer. Nothing in particular had crossed his mind in the nearly two hours he had spent there. He would have wanted to find some company as his old friend, Preston had, but no one seemed interesting enough for him. With his mind blank, Derek continued to listen to small parts of his bar neighbors' conversation. The bartender, Joe, seemed very friendly and pleasant as company, so he mostly followed Joe's interaction with the rest of the customers.

_Meredith._ Now that was a word that made him jerk his head to the side hopefully. His gaze froze as his eyes met the owner of the name.

_Was she… Meredith?_

When the girl hid her face shyly behind the other customer, Derek smiled knowingly.

He jumped up from his seat and slowly patted his bar neighbor on the shoulder.

With a tired, or more, bored movement, the man looked at Derek.

"Do you mind if we switch the places?" Derek asked him very politely and gallantly, smiling at him. He was determined to check if that girl was the same Meredith he had met earlier that day.

The man simply shrugged and stood up to take Derek's previous seat.

As she guessed Derek's intention, Meredith felt her seat grow very uncomfortable. She felt her cheeks burning and her stomach flipping.

"What can I get you?" Joe's question made Meredith try to compose her posture. "Uh…"

She mumbled with her mind hazed of the new companion beside her. "One shot of tequila," Meredith ordered.

Joe and Derek shared a surprised look. "Are you sure?" Joe asked her a little uncertain.

"Shot me." Meredith stared straight in his eyes with a stern look.

"You are going to be sorry in the morning." The bartender smiled sympathetically, but he set a shot glass in front of her. He took the bottle and the liquid poured from a spectacular height filling the small glass in a second.

Meredith smiled as she replied, with her fingers twisted around the glass, "I am always sorry in the morning." With one swift move, the glass emptied down her throat. Meredith grimaced as the tequila burned her throat and shook her head because of a chill.

"Maybe you don't want to feel sorry tomorrow morning," Derek interrupted after he had watched her swallow the liquor. A smile of pleasure for recognizing her features and of surprise was on his lips as he sat down beside Meredith.

"Do you want another beer … Derek, right?" Joe asked him.

In that moment, as Derek's name was mentioned, the glass slipped from Meredith's fingers.

Derek grinned and shook his head as a negative answer for Joe, without moving his gaze from the girl beside him.

"This isn't a small town." Meredith wiped her lips with the back of her hand as she commented, surprised to have the man she had just met beside her in a bar.

"Fate." Derek chuckled. "Don't get me wrong, but you don't look like you are having too much fun here."

Meredith smiled a sheepish smile as she glanced at him. "You don't look you're enjoying either," she said. "Or is picking up girls in a bar something that is very entertaining for you?" Meredith asked him, with a friendly giggle. She rarely got rid of the men who were picking her up in a bar and right now she wasn't in the mood for flirting, but this was Derek. The fact that he was Derek wasn't as relevant as the fact that she had met him and spent a few minutes in the claiming office of the airport with him. He was a stranger to her, a stranger named Derek who she had met there and that was now next to her in a bar, right across from the place where she would start her career as doctor.

Derek smiled, his eyes wandering over her face. The way that her lips were lifting with each smile she was offering him, her honey blonde hair that in the dim light of the bar still held some of its brightness, her clear eyes oscillating between green and blue, everything seemed to impress him. "Am I being inappropriate?" Derek asked, leaning back a little to let her breathe and not scare her, although he could see from her smile and gaze that nothing was inappropriate in their interaction.

"No." Meredith shook her head. Her fingers played with the empty glass, twisting it from side to side.

"Good, because it's refreshing to have a familiar face having a drink with me." Derek tipped the bottle and the last drops of the beer poured down on his throat.

Meredith's brows lifted in surprise. "Familiar?" she asked him, surprised. "But you don't know me."

Now it was Derek's turn to feel the embarrassment. The truth was that this girl, Meredith, hadn't left his mind since they met, so to him she was already a familiar face.

Meredith giggled as she felt some shyness from Derek. Smiling, she looked back at the bar where her empty glass was still twisting in her fingers. "I assume that you don't have anyone here."

"I have some family friends here," Derek answered, playing with his now empty bottle of beer.

"They must be old then." Meredith smiled, checking Derek from the corner of her eyes.

Derek returned the smile impressed by her intuition. "Kind of." He laughed. "How about you?" Derek asked in a cautious tone. He stopped immediately as the last word came out and looked down at his bottle to avoid any possible glare from Meredith.

Contrary to his fear, Meredith laughed; a soft melodic laugh, as Derek would have described it in that moment, between all the loud noises around them. "I have my whole family here actually," she replied.

"Good to see that each of you has a friend now!" Joe interrupted again, placing two clean glasses in front of them. "What else?" he asked them referring to their drinks.

"One more shot for me," Meredith ordered.

"Nothing else for me," Derek answered, still smiling at Meredith. "I have everything that I need now." He chuckled, flirty and more comfortable with his new companion.

Meredith giggled, avoiding any eye contact with him that might bring her to do something embarrassing.

Joe poured Meredith another glass of tequila. This time, Meredith took it and had only a sip from it.

"Is it that bad, the returning home?" Derek asked her, more serious this time.

Meredith looked at him, surprised by his question. "What makes you ask that?" She returned the question.

Derek shrugged. "You swallowed the entire glass of tequila earlier and … I don't know… you seem like something affected you… like tequila-affected."

"Tequila-affected?" Meredith laughed.

"Yeah; usually when people suffer a disillusionment, they try to numb it with the help of the tequila." Derek replied knowingly.

Meredith smiled and shook her head. "Wrong," she said. "I'm immune to tequila."

"Nobody is immune to tequila," Joe showed up again beside them and stated, very convinced.

"Nobody is immune to tequila" Derek seconded Joe's statement.

Meredith laughed again, the same laugh that Derek seemed to enjoy too much already. "Whatever." She rolled her eyes with the same amusement on her face. "It's not that bad."

Meredith finally came up with an answer to Derek's question about her homecoming. "It's… I don't know." Meredith shrugged feeling the depression again. "I think it's the rain."

"I know." Derek groaned, agreeing with her.

Meredith laughed, surprised. "Not a fan, huh?"

"Of getting soaked? No!" Derek joined her laughter.

"Are you just visiting?" Meredith asked him before sipping from her tequila again. Her face winced as the strong alcohol reached her throat again.

"No," Derek answered, watching, amused at Meredith's pleasure in torturing herself with the tequila. "If my boss wasn't my friend, I would have left Seattle by now." This time, for the first time since he joined Meredith at bar, his voice and thoughts were serious again.

"Is it that bad?" Meredith asked him with a mixture of sympathy and regret in her eyes.

Derek turned his gaze to her. He smiled, hoping that he didn't ruin their good time. "I'll survive." He chuckled.

"If your boss is also your friend, then I can go home now and sleep peacefully." Meredith laughed, mocking him a little.

With a smile spread on his lips, Derek looked as if he was about to say something, but his words remained voiceless.

"What?" Meredith asked curious.

"You just gave me an idea," Derek replied, smiling, running his fingers through his dark curls. "A great idea actually." He almost laughed, surprised and thrilled by Meredith's unconscious hint. Derek watched Meredith lifting her eyebrows in curiosity before revealing that great idea of his. "I am going to take a nice vacation before the work starts. Somewhere sunny…" He revealed now contemplating with his mind and eyes somewhere far away from that bar. "Would you like to join me?" Out of nowhere, he looked at Meredith and asked.

Meredith giggled. She was slightly amused, but also confused. His voice and attitude when he asked her that were serious, like he meant his question. "You want me to go on a vacation with… you?" she asked him in disbelief.

Derek didn't take her answer as a no. "I know you don't know me, but we both kind of look prisoners in this city. I was thinking that a short sunny vacation would be exactly what we need if we want to acclimate to life in Seattle."

This time, Meredith's look didn't give him any credit. "You said it… I don't know you. You are a stranger," she said. "Besides, I am sure that your friend would understand if you want to leave this city and your new job."

Derek nodded reluctantly and a wave of embarrassment and guilt washed over his mind. "You're right!" he muttered. "That was inappropriate."

Meredith played with her still filled glass of tequila while Derek simply stared at the wooden counter. "You should grab another beer," Meredith suggested unwilling to lose his company so soon.

Derek looked at her questioningly and smiled. Then he looked at Joe who seemed to have overheard Meredith's suggestion because he was already looking questioningly at Derek. Derek answered him with a nod and then Joe showed him a bottle of beer and a glass. "The bottle." Derek gestured for him to take the glass.

Joe opened the bottle and sat it on the counter in front of Derek. Without being really thirsty after all the beers he had had, Derek still took a gulp from it.

They both turned quiet, only watching their own drinks. For both of them, it felt like a very awkward moment.

Meredith knew that once she offered for him to stay longer with her, she should be the one breaking the silence.

Derek, on the other hand, felt stupid for their awkward moment. He felt like he owed Meredith a conversation since she was kind enough not to send him away after his inappropriate proposal.

They shared a few sheepish glances, until Derek got up the guts to try his luck again and get involve in a conversation. "So…" He started hesitantly, still not looking at her. "Are you a doctor?" His eyes looked up at her impatiently, waiting to read her expression. He sighed, relieved as her lips formed a smile.

"Yes. Actually I am only an intern… soon-to-be intern," she babbled and let an ashamed giggle enchant him.

That made Derek's smile grow wider. Now at the end of his first day in Seattle, not all the things looked so gray and rainy anymore. "Seattle Grace?" he asked her with excitement. As she replied with a nod, Derek almost felt happy to be in that city. "Really?" he said, more as a statement than a question, because Meredith's answer had been clear enough. "In that case, I am going to be your boss." A smirk broke out across his face.

Meredith's eyes widened and her mouth fell. "You?"

"Me." Derek laughed more cheerful again.

"If you stay here." Meredith reminded him of his thoughts of ditching his friend and go back from where he came from.

Derek paused, expressionless. _Damn,_ he cursed himself. He had seriously thought about not going on with Richard's proposal of being the new head of the neuro department. He could get somewhere else as well. He never had second thoughts… so far. "If," Derek replied, smiling.

Their talk moved forward from Meredith's fresh career as a doctor, to Derek's already experienced one, and then to weather, families, and friends. They found themselves laughing and really enjoying the chat.

As Derek finished his ttale about his summers in the Hamptons and Meredith finally let her cheeks relax from all the laughter she had had, she looked around her and realized that the bar looked different. Less crowded and less noisy. She checked her watch and sighed.

Derek followed her gestures and did the same thing as her. They sighed simultaneously and laughed at their similar reactions. It was very late, so their chat had to end. "I should go now." Meredith reluctantly stood up from her barstool. She opened her bag to search for her wallet, but Derek guessed her intention and held her hand while he put some bills on counter.

"Can I walk you to your car?" Derek asked her, with the same reluctant movement as he stood up.

His question made Meredith remember something. She slammed her bag on counter. She had come there in Lexie's car and since Lexie was probably already in Alex's arms. She might not have a ride home. Fumbling through her bag, she finally reached a set of keys. Now she remembered that Lexie had thrown them in her bag. "I…uh… I have the car parked across the street," Meredith finally replied.

"Oh. so you've paid a late visit to the hospital, huh?" Derek chuckled. Meredith frowned, a little embarrassed. "Don't feel bad about it. I did it too when I started my internship."

Meredith smiled, grateful for his kind assurance and waved goodbye to Joe, who was attending one of the customers at the other side of the bar. Derek did the same and followed Meredith outside.

Stepping outside from the warmth of the bar, Meredith felt her face get chilled by a cold wind and a strong rain started out of nowhere to wash over them. Meredith slowed her steps and she got pinned to a spot. Her face lifted to the sky watching how the rain was pouring over her face.

"Meredith?" Derek's confused shout broke her gaze and made her look in his direction. He had stopped a few feet in front of her after he had noticed her absence. "Are you ok?" he asked her, worried, and took a step towards her.

Suddenly, Derek's idea of a sunny vacation sounded exciting in Meredith's thoughts. _Why not?_ she thought. She still had a few days left until her internship was due to start, so somewhere sunny… with Derek, might be fun. She started laughing as she ran to him and took his hand. "Take me somewhere sunny, Derek!"

Derek was caught off guard. He stared at her in disbelief. She hadn't drunken more than two tequilas, but yet her reaction seemed too hyper. "Are you sure what you are saying, Meredith?" He asked her checking her.

"Yes." Meredith gave him a firm nod. "I really need a vacation," She said serenely. "Are you still up for it?"

Derek chuckled, totally shocked by her reaction. He meant it when he launched his proposal, but he also gave up on it as hopeless. "Sure," he hurried to confirm. "How about leaving now?" Derek felt surer of his chances now and dared to ask more.

"I don't have my passport on me," Meredith replied without taking his second suggestion as too much.

"I don't have it either, but we could meet at the airport," Derek said. "How long does it take you to get there?"

"Uh." Meredith thought seriously about it. 15 minutes until home and it was almost midnight so the traffic should be flawless from her apartment until airport. "One hour."

"Great! I will meet you there in one hour then," Derek agreed with the same excitement as Meredith.

Derek walked her to her car and watched her driving away. When her car disappeared in the dark, Derek became aware of his stupidity. He had no car.

Desperate, he looked around him hopefully. The luck was on his side. A cab had just brought a couple to hospital. He sprinted to catch it and offered his help to the man who was helping his laboring wife outside. Once the couple was heading towards the entry, Derek slid inside the cab.


	6. Sleepless in Vegas

Meredith drove as fast as the legal speed allowed her. All the way back to her apartment, her mind stayed blank, simply focusing on the road. Something inside her was excited, making the adrenaline flow through her veins as if she was doing some extreme sport.

In the same rush, she climbed up the stairs until the 5th floor; almost breathless stormed inside the apartment, straight to the bedroom she shared with her cousin. In that moment, she stopped as the rationality hit her. "What am I doing?" She laughed, incredulous at her actions. "Where am I going? That guy must have been joking and you took it as real." Meredith shook her head disappointed in herself. She let out a sigh and threw herself on her bed. Lying crosswise on bed, one hand over her stomach, her eyes staring at the ceiling, Meredith sighed again. This time she sighed, disappointed, because she wanted Derek's invitation to be real. She was thrilled with the idea of doing something out of the ordinary, like running away somewhere sunny with a stranger. She had really enjoyed Derek's company and felt like he was a decent man.

"Hell, I am going!" she finally decided and jumped back up on her feet, very determined. "If he was mocking me, so what? I'll come back home, curse myself for stupidity and move on," she said to herself. Then, without any other thoughts, she started preparing a small handbag.

She was about to walk out of her room, when her foot froze in the door way and she spun around walking back in her room. If Derek wasn't going to be at the airport as they had discussed, then she would go on a vacation by herself. She took out of the closet one of her suitcases and threw everything she thought she would need for her escape inside it.

--

Derek wasn't as discreet with the speed limit as Meredith was, so his car ran through the pouring rain, the red lights being the only traffic signs he respected.

When his car pulled in the parking lot of the airport, the rain had lost some of its intensity. Stepping out of the car, Derek looked up, watching the sky. Even the sky looked clearer and the atmosphere seemed warmer. In that moment, a wave of fear swept through him. "I hope she hasn't changed her mind," he muttered under his breath.

Derek leaned back to his car and grabbed the small bag from the passenger seat. He locked the door and walked to the entrance of the airport. Inside, the airport wasn't very crowded; the few people that were heading to their boarding gates for their night flights were rushing or walking unstressed to a certain destination. Derek's feet froze to a spot in the middle of the lobby as he realized that he had no set destination. He hadn't told Meredith where to meet him. They hadn't even talked about a destination for their sunny escape, so that they would know where to meet at the airport. There were many sunny destinations for them to choose and the airport was too big to be able to accidentally meet a known person. Derek sighed nervously and cursed himself for his stupid plan. Maybe she didn't even believe he was serious when he suggested the vacation and she took it as a joke… though she looked very interested in it too. Derek went over to the chairs and collapsed in one of them, with his bag at his feet. He leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs ahead and rubbed his face in the sound of his own groan. "Stupid, stupid, stupid Derek," he continued to curse himself.

Derek stayed there in that position for a few more minutes, looking as if he was sleeping and trying to think of what he should do next. He really wanted this vacation, but the idea of going alone made it look less exciting.

He finally decided to stand up and leave. He was definitely a horrible trip planner. Walking through the sliding doors of the entrance, Derek felt his heart skipping from his chest when Meredith showed up in his way. She was looking at him with disappointment and, at the same time, confusion in her big eyes.

"You are leaving," she muttered, more to herself than to him.

"No," Derek hurried to clarify the situation, lying about his first intention of leaving. He felt more relieved now that Meredith was there. "I … uh…" He stammered a little confused, still not believing that Meredith was there for real. "We hadn't talked about a place to meet so…"

"Oh," Meredith cut him off as she just realized that. Looking at him, a smile formed on her lips and she let out a giggle. She hadn't thought about that either. Same as Derek, she hadn't realized that before leaving from home. "So… are we still in?" she asked him.

Derek smiled and nodded. "Sure… if you still want to?" he asked, afraid of a no.

"If I got here…" Meredith giggled. "I … uh." She wanted to say something, but then she stopped feeling too embarrassed.

"What?" Derek asked her curiously.

"Don't be offended…" she started, smiling, embarrassed. "But I didn't think that you would come for real. I was thinking that you might have been joking or something."

"It's a crazy idea, isn't it?" Derek asked her, chuckling.

Meredith answered with a nod. "I was planning to go somewhere anyway even if you weren't serious."

"But I was serious," Derek said, smiling. "Are you joining me?"

"Sure." Meredith nodded smiling. Both of them walked inside the airport and stopped in the middle of the lobby. "Where are we headed to?" she asked Derek. Derek smiled and shrugged. "So this was indeed spontaneous." Meredith giggled.

"Usually I am not a spontaneous guy, that's why I decided for once to check out how it is," Derek confessed with a charming smile that made Meredith's heart flutter.

"I'm not spontaneous either.," Meredith admitted. "Let's decide on a destination," she suggested. "The first place that comes to your mind."

"Miami," Derek answered immediately. His answer was spontaneous as Meredith suggested.

"Great. Let's board." Meredith smiled.

Just when they started walking again, Derek noticed Meredith's suitcase. It was a medium sized one, but still big compared to his luggage. "Are you planning to move there?" he asked her, laughing, with a hint of sarcasm too.

Meredith frowned as she looked up at him with a glare. "I didn't…" At first, she wanted to justify her luggage, but then she noticed Derek's bag. "I'm not going to ask you to drag it so ignore it." She sniffed, annoyed and walked again.

Derek found her childish attitude very cute. He chuckled and called after her. "Meredith?" But Meredith was too stubborn to look back at him and kept her pace, dragging the suitcase after her. "Meredith!" Derek called after her laughing. Laughing at her wasn't a good idea, because Meredith refused to stop. "You can't board any plane if you don't buy a ticket first!" That announcement made Meredith stop dead in her tracks. Reluctantly, she spun around and walked back to him, irritated and avoided his amused look.

Derek tried to control his amusement while he was waiting for her to return to his side. "Though you are little… you could sneak inside unnoticed." Derek leaned to her ear and whispered. "But I suggest you try it without the suitcase."

Meredith gasped, offended by his little joke and frowning, shot him a deadly glare. "Mind your own business." She smacked her fist on his arm as much as she could, causing him to whimper in pain.

"Maybe you should stay home," Derek said wincing, but without losing the amusement in his voice.

"You go home!" Meredith snapped and walked ahead, this time towards the first airline company she saw.

"You go home!" Derek protested, this time acting more like Meredith. He walked after her, trying to adopt her indignant attitude.

They reached the ticket office at the same time, where a young man greeted them. "Good evening, sir!" He smiled at Derek as he addressed him and turned another polite smile to Meredith.

"I was here first." Meredith protested.

The ticket agent looked at them confused. Because the airport wasn't very crowded and because a customer only came to buy an airplane ticket rom time to time, the ticket agent had time to watch their little tiff and believe that they were a couple.

"I'm sorry," the agent apologized, slightly embarrassed for the confusion and asked Meredith for an ID. "What destination?" he asked her.

Meredith looked stern at Derek. "Where are you going?"

"I'm not changing my destination." Derek shook his head. He leaned against the counter watching back and forth at Meredith and the ticket agent who was staring at them even more confused. "We had planned to have this vacation together, but Miss Grumpiness here might not be pleasant company." Derek chuckled as he explained the situation to the agent. His heart startled when Meredith's cheeks flushed. He knew he was playing a dangerous game with this silly fight of theirs and the risks involved in losing Meredith's company. The flush from her cheeks made him believe that his chances of joining her on a vacation were still standing. "Meredith, you know I was joking about your suitcase and your stature, right?"

Meredith didn't know that but she was hoping. As Derek assured her of that, she smiled and nodded. "Two tickets to Miami," she said to the ticket agent.

After they bought the tickets, Derek took Meredith's suitcase and they walked together to the gate number 8, where boarding was to start in two hours.

"Do you mind if I ask you something?" As they were both sitting in the waiting area, outstretched in their chairs, Derek looked questioningly at Meredith.

Meredith giggled at his question and turned lazy to look at him. "You've known me for … less than 24 hours and we are going together in a vacation, so I think we both have the right to ask some questions."

"That's fair," Derek agreed, smiling. "Do you want to start first?"

Meredith nodded. "Why did you move here, to Seattle, if you hate the rain so much?"

"Ow." Derek winced, smiling. "Hate is such a dramatic word," he admitted. "The Chief of Surgery from Seattle Grace promised me a chance at his job after he retires."

Meredith stared at him in awe.

"What?" Derek asked her chuckling.

"I'm going in vacation with my soon-to-be boss." Meredith laughed.

"In this situation, you might get some favors from me… since we are already friends." Derek smirked at her, amusing himself even more when Meredith sent him a glare. "I'm joking." Derek leaned to her ear, whispering, "I can leave aside the personal life when I am at work."

"Sure." Meredith rolled her eyes, obviously not trusting in his words too much. "I think I should just quit at this silly idea," she said, making a gesture to stand up.

Derek jumped on his feet faster, panicked that Meredith might leave him alone. "Seriously, Meredith, I was joking. Look… for example, my sister did one year of residency in our psychiatric clinic, where one of my best friends was working, and I didn't interfere in any way for her."

"You must be a horrible brother then." Meredith frowned.

"Actually, I love my four sisters." Derek admitted through a melodic laugh that each time made Meredith join in his amusement with teenage giggles. "How about you? Why did you move back to Seattle if you don't like the rain?" he asked her.

Meredith's smile froze and she looked away as if she was trying to hide the embarrassment at her thoughts. She didn't want him to know that her boyfriend dumped her after she had refused his proposal of marriage.

"You didn't murder anyone, I hope." Derek fought back a laugh. "Not that I'm judging you, but I don't want to have unpleasant surprises during this vacation."

In less than 24 hours, Meredith discovered how good and relaxed she felt in Derek's presence. His kind and relaxed attitude, the perfect gentleman in him and especially his cheerful behavior made Meredith trust him and accept his invitation to go on this vacation.

"My father really wanted to have me back here and my mother helped him. She said I could get some extra specialization here with her," Meredith answered in the end, telling him just part of the truth.

"Wait a minute." Derek suddenly seemed to have remembered something. "When we bought the tickets… your last name is Grey…" he trailed off, confused. "And your mother asked to come in Seattle for extra specialization… Are you related in anyway to Dr. Ellis Grey?"

Meredith smiled sheepishly, biting her lip. "Ellis Grey is my mother actually," she mumbled, looking away.

After the shock of the moment passed, Derek chuckled. "So you won't need my favors anyway," he admitted jokingly. It had been far from his thoughts to offend her, but involuntarily, he did it and Meredith scowled at him. "Don't you have a little sense of humor at all?" Derek asked her with the same chuckle ready to escape his throat.

"I do," Meredith hissed nervously at him. "But you are not funny."

Derek's expression froze instantly as she said that. "Ok, that was harsh." He pretended to wince, offended.

"Still not funny." Meredith gazed at him, this time more relaxed, with a small smile playing on her lips.

"I'll just stop then." Derek smiled and rearranged his position in his chair.

"Finally." Meredith smiled back as she leaned in her chair making herself more comfortable, stretching and yawning.

"It's almost 1 o'clock. We still have an hour till we board," Derek said after he had checked his watch, and looked at Meredith. He shrugged his shoulder as an offer for her to put her head down.

Meredith had to admit that she was exhausted. This was going to be her second flight for that day and the hours she had slept in the last 24 hours weren't that many. She smiled gratefully and put her head on his shoulder, immediately feeling her shoulder covered by the warmth of his arm.

As soon as she put her head down, Meredith fell asleep. Her sleep seemed exhausted too, making her fuss in her chair very often. Derek decided to set her in a comfortable position and moved her to rest her head on his lap. It felt unusual, and yet so pleasant to have Meredith sleeping in his arms.

The lack of sleep of the day also forced Derek to close his eyes for a while. When Derek stirred minutes later, he found his fingers slowly brushing Meredith's hair. He yawned and rubbed his face trying to regain some consciousness. He checked his watch and became more alert as he saw what the time was.

"Meredith." He shoved her shoulder gently as he whispered, "It's time to board now. Wake up," He continued.

Meredith moaned sleepily and reluctantly straightened up in her chair, not realizing where she had slept. "Already?" she asked him, yawning.

"Yes." Derek nodded. "This is your last chance to change your mind," He told her jokingly but fearfully at the same time.

At first, Meredith seemed not have heard Derek; she stood up and walked ahead, she looked back at Derek flashing him a smile. "Are you backing out?" Derek shook his head smiling. "Do you want to change the destination?" she asked him again. Derek answered with another shake of his head. "Then do you need to be led?" Meredith asked him and Derek answered with a nod.

Meredith turned to him and held out her hand for him. Derek jumped to his feet, grabbing his bag at the same time and took her hand.

--

Meredith and Derek stared out the glass window of the airport in Miami. Thunder and lightening were breaking outside in the dark storm.

"We are haunted," Meredith mumbled, astonished.

"We are," Derek agreed.

Both of them stared out the window, looking as if they were outside in that storm.

"No sunny place for us?" Meredith asked as she looked at Derek like a disillusioned child.

Derek looked at her and shrugged apologetically.

"What do we do now?" she asked him.

"Do you want to go home?" Derek asked her back.

Meredith shook her head.

"Then come with me." Derek took her hand and walked with her to another travel office.

--

Meredith and Derek were waiting for their luggage, actually hers. Derek was a light packer and he couldn't believe that Meredith needed a big suitcase for such a little trip.

He gave her an amused look and shook his head. Meredith scowled at him. "I know what you are thinking so shut up about it," she hissed.

He just laughed. "Come on. How much do you need to bring?"

She stared at him, her hands on her hips. "I need all the stuff in that suitcase, ok?"

"Ok, ok. I just hope they didn't lose it this time," he replied, smiling.

"Oh my God, they better not! I can't stand going through that again," she gasped remembering the long process she had to go through to recover her bag.

He could see her start freaking out a little about that and his first impulse was to take her hand. That startled her a little and sent chills down her spine. She didn't quite know why but she smiled at him trying to look amused and relaxed her hand in his. He felt a little embarrassed but didn't let go her hand; he cleared his throat and pointed towards a suitcase.

"Isn't that yours?" She smiled, relieved.

She waited until the very last minute possible to try to let go off his hand while the suitcase travelled on the band and got to where they were standing, but as she tried to do so Derek pulled her back and didn't go of her hand.

"I got it." With his free hand, he got Meredith's bag, then they walked out of the airport after he had given her another look for how heavy the bag was. Meredith simply rolled her eyes. He took his small bag and put it on top of hers and they walked out together.

As they step outside, they noticed what a beautiful morning it was; the sky was clear, cloudless. It was a sunny morning and Derek was happy about it. He let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, this is wonderful, don't you think?" She smiled at him with thrill in her eyes.

"Sun. Do you even know what that is living in Seattle?" he replied.

"I do and may I remind you, I wasn't living in Seattle until about a day ago." She laughed, remembering the fact that they actually wanted out of the city just a few hours after they got there.

"See? Sun is better." He smiled back at her.

"Well too bad for us … we are stuck with the rain in Seattle for now, or at least I am," Meredith said. "You can pass on that job, but I need to do my internship," she said, already wishing that he wouldn't do it.

He smiled again. "Yeah, I know, but I think I'll give it a try. Ok, enough about rainy and depressing Seattle; let's enjoy the fun and sun in Vegas"

"Ok, I can do that." Meredith giggled.

But they both stood there for a second, thinking about rainy and depressing Seattle and how they both were about to start a new chapter in their lives and yet there they were trying to get away from it. Little did they know, rainy and depressing Seattle was going to become the place they were going to call home, and a place that would always be in their hearts because it brought them together.

They took a cab. The driver helped them with the bags and they got inside the car. "Where to sir?" the driver asked.

Meredith looked at Derek, questioning him too. He opened his mouth a little not saying a word.

"You don't know where we are going?" Meredith asked him, a bit angry and panicked.

"Well it's not like this was a planned trip, right?" he replied feeling attacked.

"I know but...oh ok so where are we going?" she asked him again, trying to stay calm.

"Hmmm let me think...ok… could you recommend a good hotel?" he asked the driver.

"Well the Venetian is awesome, sir. I will take you but it would have been good if you had reservations because at this time a year hotels are fully occupied," he said looking through the rear-view mirror at now very preoccupied Derek and Meredith.

She slapped his arm to release some of the anger she was holding in. "This is great!" she said folding her arms across her chest.

"Hey don't blame this on me," Derek protested, rubbing the spot she had hit. "How was I supposed to know?"

They continued discussing this the entire ride to the hotel until they finally got there and got a look at that wonderful place. It had a romantic aura around it even though it was Vegas; they both forgot about what they were talking about at the moment and just enjoyed the view of the stunning place.

They went to the receptionist and asked if there were any available rooms. "You are lucky, sir," she said smiling at them.

Derek gave an I told you so look to Meredith, which she tried to ignore and smiled relived; but their smiles fade away when the lady continued. "We have the honeymoon suit available. Like I said you are very lucky," she said, pleased thinking of them as a young couple; but then got confused seeing the look on their faces.

"This is just great," Meredith mumbled nervously.

"Could you please check again? We need separate rooms" Derek asked the receptionist.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I double checked. That is all we have available at the moment," she said apologetically.

"Ok, we will have to find another hotel, Derek," Meredith said firmly.

"Can I have a phonebook please?" Derek asked the lady.

"Of course, sir." The receptionist looked strangely at them, but then reluctantly, she put a phonebook on the counter. "Here you go."

"Ok. what are you doing?" Meredith asked him, sounding more irritated now.

"Looking for a hotel but you heard what the taxi driver said. I'll call from my cell and if I can't find anything, we will have to stay here, Mer." She glared at him. "edith," he continued getting by her look than he was not allowed to call her that yet or ever. He didn't know her well enough… yet, to know if she liked to be called like that.

Meredith knew Derek was right; if they were leaving this hotel, they would risk losing this room as well, so she sat in the lobby while he made the calls. He called every good hotel but he couldn't find anything and gave up. "You can take the bed. I'm sure there is something I can sleep on," Derek suggested.

"Ok, we will talk about sleeping arrangements later. Let's go tell her we take the room," Meredith agreed.

"Ok." He had to admit that he didn't really think it was so bad, sharing a room with Meredith. A naughty smiled played on his lips at that thought.

They checked in and went up to their room. They were amazed by the place from the first step they took inside the room. It was so big, and beautiful that at one point they both were mesmerized and smiling until their eyes met and they became embarrassed, both having thoughts at the moment of everything could happen at that room; but those thoughts were quickly shook off by reality. They did agree to go together to this trip but they were in fact not together; they weren't even friends. They had just met and once again they reached the point of thinking that this had probably been a mistake. If it was, now it was too late. They were stuck in Vegas, together, in a honeymoon suit.

"So, what do we do now?" Derek asked trying to break the ice and make the situation less uncomfortable.

"Hmmm, I don't know. Do you want to go down to the casino?" she suggested.

"Aren't you tired?" Derek asked her.

Meredith smiled, shaking her head.

"Well, I'm not so good at gambling, but it sure sounds fun." Derek flashed one of his stunning smiles that always made her heart pound.

They changed their clothes and made it down to the casino.

"So what do you want to play" Meredith asked him.

"I don't know. Like I said, I'm not a big fan of these places," Derek admitted.

They started walking around and stopped beside the roulette tables. Derek gave Meredith a look asking for her approval to bet on that one. She nodded and they both came up to the table and Derek placed his bet at black 19.

"Make it red," Meredith suggested and he changed it without any second thoughts.

The roulette started spinning and Derek and Meredith started laughing when they saw where the ball landed.

"19 red!" the dealer announced, and everyone at the table started clapping and cheering them.

"Wow. She is a keeper, son," one of the other players, an elderly man, said to Derek with a smirk.

Derek looked at Meredith awkwardly when another player patted his shoulder. "He is right, you found your lucky charm here, and talk about lucky, she is really pretty," the other man said causing both of them to blush.

They returned their attention to the table, as it was time to bet yet again. Derek looked at Meredith before placing his bet. He wasn't so much into this gambling thing; he just wanted to have fun and, being with Meredith, for him that was fun. It was so new and refreshing, exactly what he needed. He was so consumed with his thoughts that he didn't even realize that they had won again. He woke up from his thoughts when everyone at the table started screaming and congratulating them.

"Wow. What do you know? This is our lucky day," Meredith squealed, excited for Derek. He smiled in a confident way, as he was about to place another bet. She stopped him grabbing his arm. "Let's go play something more interesting than this now"

"More interesting?" he said, feeling a little curious. "Like what?"

"Hmm…" She tried to think of something more fun; she was not a big fan of the Roulette. "Poker," she said excited

"You know how to play poker?" Derek asked amused.

"Mhm," she replied nodding.

"Wait, you know enough to play with those guys?" Derek asked her.

"I do, ok?" she said confidently as she approached the poker table.

"Where did you learn?" Derek asked.

"Nowhere." She rolled her eyes and Derek raised his eyebrows, giving her a look. "Ok! Strip poker in college," she finally admitted.

Derek laughed. "Really?"

"Hey, I was never naked pal. I'm good." She gave him a dirty look and then she found a place at the table.

"Ok, what ever you say...pal." He sat next to her, laughing, even though he was not going to play this time. She had been his lucky charm today, but he was sure he wouldn't do well at poker, so he just let her play.

He was impressed. She was quite a pro and an expert at bluffing. She made 5,000 on the table and was having fun, but she noticed Derek had started to get a little bored so she decided to make this one her last hand. The dealer gave her two cards. She discreetly looked at them not making any sign of amusement at what she saw. She was, in fact, good at bluffing. She was glad Derek didn't get to see her cards because he wasn't quite good at it and would have given her away. It was a queen and an Ace of hearts. She had a chance at a royal flush here and she was very happy.

She placed her bet. Two other players got in too. Then the dealer took out the 3 flop cards; they were a 10 of hearts, Ace of spades and a Jack of diamonds. She still had the chance for the flush with those cards but it would be perfect if she got the Jack and king of hearts she needed to make the perfect Royal flush. When the dealer took out the turn, it was a Jack of hearts. _Yes _she thought, again not making any sudden movements.

The dealer asked them to place their bets again. She was cautious and raised only a little so the other players wouldn't fold. They called her bet and the dealer was now about to take out the "river card." All she could think about was _come on king of hearts_ over and over again while looking at Derek who looked as dreamier as could be. He caught her looking at him and gave her a smile that made her feel a little embarrassed. She turned her attention back to the game as the dealer uncovered the final card. "The river!" he announced.

In a sudden movement, Meredith turned to Derek and kissed his lips. This surprised him; he knew she had been drinking but he thought she was still ok.

Meredith was as surprised as him by her own reaction, and, once again, she was embarrassed as she pulled apart from him. All they could do was smile at each other.

"What was that for?" he asked curiously, mesmerized by the taste of her lips that was still lingering on his.

She slowly turned her cards up. "Royal flush," she said in a low, childish tone still feeling so embarrassed by the whole situation. The other players couldn't help but laugh even if they had lost the hand and a lot of money. Derek was out of it for a moment. All he could do was focus on her beauty, but then it hit him.

"Oh My God, Meredith! You won! That is more than 200,000!" He was so excited he stood up, hugged her and started spinning around with her in his arms. They were definitely having a lucky day and they were both very happy.

As Derek put her down, they stared into each other eyes for a moment. A sudden urge to kiss swept through them. Derek was the one who made the first move, leaning his head down a little while Meredith answered by lifting hers. Both of them felt that scenes like playing in slow motions on TV. Lost in feelings, their lips were almost touching now. Also as in movies, the climax had to be cut before it started. Meredith felt an arm wrapping around her waist.

"Congratulations, Blondie" a man that had been playing at the table said.

Both Meredith and Derek cursed under their breaths as the man spoiled the moment.

"Thanks," Meredith muttered, not sounding so enthusiastic and pulled herself from the man's arm.

"You know what? Now you have to buy us drinks," another man said.

Derek and Meredith laughed, and then she nodded. "One round of whatever everyone is drinking here and a bottle of champagne please?" she asked one of the waitresses.

"Champagne?" Derek asked, giving her a playful look.

"Well, we have to celebrate, don't we? This has been a lucky day," she said, smiling back at him.

"So lucky," he added, almost amazed by the thought.

They made arrangements to collect the money later or the next day since there was a lot to do. When the waitress came back with their champagne, Derek took the bottle and the glasses from her, holding them all with one hand. "Come on," he said to Meredith, offering her his free hand.

She hesitated a little before she took it, but as she did, she felt calmer and the joy sweeping through her body. "Where are we going?"

"I don't know, just...out of here. Come on, we are in this wonderful place. Let's not celebrate in the casino," Derek suggested.

"You are right," she said agreeing with him.

They walked around the place for a while. It was magical, so magical that they didn't even notice that they were still holding hands. After a few minutes, they found a spot where they could see the gondolas. They sat on a border and Derek poured some champagne in the glasses, handing one to Meredith. Then, he raised his to her's. "To our lucky day," he toasted, smiling.

"Cheers," she replied raising hers.

They sipped from their glasses and then their gazes fell over the beautiful view again.

"Too bad we have to go back," Derek muttered, more to himself, with an evident note of regret in his voice.

"Yeah," she said, feeling the same disappointment. Being there at that moment with him was perfect… unexpectedly perfect… already familiar.

"Wow, what is that?" he said pointing to the canals, almost laughing, surprised.

A young couple was riding in a gondola, in each other's arms, while a minister was reading something to them.

"Are they getting married in that gondola?" Meredith laughed in disbelief.

"Talk about crazy people," Derek added, watching the scene in shock.

"Well, at least it's not Star Trek," she admitted.

"Hey! Start Trek was pretty cool," Derek protested, glaring at her.

"Oh my god! You were a geek in high school, weren't you?" Meredith laughed at him.

"What? I was not!" Derek shouted offended. "I just happened to like the show," he confessed, feeling a little embarrassed.

"I bet you would get married here in the Star Trek style, admit it," she said, laughing.

Derek smiled sheepishly at her. "Of course not... well ok... maybe." He rolled his eyes, pouting and looking over the canal again.

Meredith felt pity for him, but she could not hold back the laughter.

"Ok, what theme would you have picked?" he asked her curiously.

"None," she said, her laughter freezing.

"Oh, come one, pick one." Derek found this a good opportunity to tease her about the subject.

"No. I don't want to think about marriage," Meredith replied irritated.

"Oh I see! You are one of those people, aren't you?" Derek raised an eyebrow, smiling at her.

Meredith gave him a look. "Which people?"

"Yeah, afraid of commitment people," he clarified.

"I am not," she said back to him, acting a little offended by his comments.

"I bet you will never get married," Derek concluded.

"Oh shut up! I will!" She glared at him and then paused to think about it. "Someday!"

"Someday, huh?"

"Well, I bet you will marry like millions of times, since you seem to be so in love with the idea," Meredith teased him back.

"I will not! I'm just saying it is nice to have someone you love by your side for the rest of your life. Don't you ever want to have that?" he asked her. This time, he was more serious.

She didn't say anything at first, just thought about it for a moment. They kept talking about marriage and before they knew it more than an hour had gone and they had finished the bottle already. Derek asked Meredith if she wanted to order another and she didn't see anything wrong with that, so they did. He opened the new bottle while Meredith started the marriage subject again, trying to get Derek to think more like her.

2 hours and 2 bottles of champagne later, they were kind of on the same page, a happy medium. Both of them admitted that marriage had its funny sides, or at least Derek convinced her of that.

They were once again looking at the canals when Meredith spoke up again. "Gondolas," she muttered. Derek looked at her, confused. "If I ever were to get married here in Vegas that would be my theme," Meredith continued. "I mean look at that, it's so beautiful, so..."

"Romantic," he added for her.

"Yeah," Meredith smiled, staring ahead.

After witnessing at least 3 weddings in the time they were there, they could not deny how great the whole thing was.

"It is definitively better than Elvis, right?" Derek said.

"Right," she agreed, laughing again.

"So I'm not going to change your mind, am I?" Derek chuckled.

"Come on." Meredith whined smiling. "I thought we dropped the subject already. I even picked a theme for you."

Derek smirked at her and then silence fell over them. It was because of the lack of sleep from the last 24 hours, but it was also because of their thoughts. Meredith leaned her body against his side and put her head down on his shoulder.

"Do you want to join me for a ride?" he asked as he held out his hand.


	7. The plan

**N/A: I have no excuse for not updating this fic in such a long time. Now I'm back at it and as proof, the next chapter is also done. Enjoy!**

--

_Chapter 7 __–__ The plan_

Her head throbbed in pain as she started to wake up. It felt heavy, as did her eyes and her whole body.

Champagne. They had celebrated with many bottles of champagne.

They. Meredith snapped her eyes open, wincing at the light that streamed through the large windows of the hotel room. With the onslaught of light, the pain inside her head exploded. "Ow!" she cried out, wincing. A warm, steamy body snuggling her, followed her whimper.

Derek. She remembered Derek, her road trip partner. Slowly, everything started rewinding in her mind. They had wished for a sunny place; after a first failed destination, they ended up in Vegas. She remembered the gambling in the hotel's casino and the pot of 200,000 dollars she had won there. Meredith giggled quietly because she had never done something this crazy before. To be in Vegas with a stranger… Derek… Derek, the stranger, she bit her lip muffling a laugh as she thought of that.

Then, the harsh sunlight reflected on her finger. Meredith flinched and panic washed over as she looked down and saw a ring on her left hand.

The gondolas. Now she remembered the gondolas too.

_"I have a brilliant idea." Meredith turned her look from over the water to Derek. Derek waited curiously to find out her 'brilliant' idea. If her idea would be as brilliant as her eyes were, they he would love it for sure. "Let's get married." Meredith revealed her 'brilliant' idea._

_Derek was watching her even more curious now. "But I don't even have a girlfriend," he confessed._

_"And I don't have a boyfriend." Meredith giggled loudly. It was her tipsy giggle. Derek continued to stare at her questioningly. "This couldn't have matched better." Meredith continued giggling. "If I'm not doing it now, I won't do it ever."_

_Derek stared at her in disbelief and shock in the same time. "You are crazy," he concluded and chuckled._

_"And you are pretty," Meredith replied, laughing._

The champagne, Derek, the gondolas… she got drunk and got married in Vegas.

"I can't believe we've actually done it," Derek chuckled huskily as he put his left hand over hers and their rings met next to each other.

Meredith jerked her hand from his and pushed him away nervously. She jumped up in her seat and felt her head spinning because of the sudden movement. She furiously rubbed her temples, trying to banish the pain.

"It's the hangover," Derek stood up, rubbing her back slowly.

"You bastard!" Meredith shouted as she slapped his arm. "It's you, bastard! Not the hangover! What have you done to me?"

Derek widened his eyes in shock. He sighed then and closed his eyes briefly. "I knew you were too drunk," he muttered.

"That's right! I was too drunk and you took advantage of me!" Meredith snapped sharply at him.

"I didn't do anything against your will!" Derek retorted, extremely offended by her accusation. He moved to the other side of the bed and reached down for his boxers. He put them on and then got out of the bed. He started pacing around the room, running his hands through his hair, trying to think clearly about the consequences of his escapade to Vegas with Meredith. He had been drunk too since they consumed the same number of champagne bottles, but his memories from the previous night were still clear to him, unlike Meredith.

"Of course you took advantage of me!" she attacked him verbally again, as she trailed down from the bed, making sure she had the sheets around her. "I gained over 200,000 dollars last night!"

"I didn't do it for your money!" Derek snapped back. "I have more money than 200,000 dollars."

"Then why did you do it?" she spat.

"I didn't do anything!" he protested defensively.

"You didn't do anything?" Meredith laughed with bitter sarcasm. "This means nothing?" she asked, showing him her left hand.

"You proposed!" he defended himself.

"I was drunk!" she shouted. "Oh my God!" she cried out. "Of all the stupid things I've done, this is the stupidest."

"Calm down, Mer," Derek walked over to her, intending to comfort her.

"Don't 'Mer' me!" Meredith slapped his hand as he tried to touch her. "And I can't calm down. I can't calm down because I don't believe in marriage. I don't want a marriage."

"But we're married now!" Derek knew he had to point out the most important fact. "I'm sorry I accepted your idea, but there's nothing we can do now. We have to calm down and think clearly. Panic won't help us."

"I want a divorce," she muttered, biting her nails nervously.

Derek sat down at the edge of the bed, his back turned to Meredith. He didn't answer that. He agreed with her proposal because he had serious thoughts of trying a marriage with a woman, whoever that woman was. He liked Meredith from the first time he saw her, so he thought she would be the one.

"Don't even think about it," she warned him, after she saw his silence. "I don't want to try anything."

Derek shifted, turning to look at her. "We're married already. Let's just try… for a while. If it doesn't work, then we'll sign the divorce papers."

"Why do you want it so much?" she asked him.

"Because I don't want this to be the stupidest thing I've ever done," he confessed with sincerity.

"Don't tell me you're that perfect," Meredith rolled her eyes with sarcasm.

"Actually, I rarely do stupid things." Meredith rolled her eyes again at his confession. "This could be… an experiment," Derek said convincingly. "An interesting and … fun experiment. Let's give it a try. Let's say… for 6 months. We'll try for 6 months and at the end of those months we'll make a decision."

Meredith stared at him thoughtfully, which for Derek was a good sign. "You agreed to have an escapade with a stranger, now you're married to that stranger, so… try."

"You're crazy," Meredith muttered, shaking her head.

"No," Derek laughed. He smiled at her and reached out his hand to stroke her cheek. "Let's not make this be the stupidest thing we've ever done. Let's make it the craziest."

Meredith continued to stare at him. He had a point with that. She used to sleep with random guys, and that wasn't quite a responsible attitude, but to run away to Vegas and marry a stranger could be surely the most irresponsible. _'At least it would be the craziest,'_ she said to herself.

"I'm not crazy," Derek admitted as he misunderstood her silence. "I told you I work as surgeon… neurosurgeon, so my nervous system works on high standards," he chuckled.

"Fine, whatever! Let's try!" Meredith grumbled as she threw herself in bed.

Derek lay down beside her, propping his head in his hand. "Hey, try to see the best part from this story?"

"Oh," Meredith smiled at him with sarcasm. "Is there any?"

"Yes, there is," Derek smiled smugly.

"Let's hear it," she rolled on her side, propping her head in her hand and looking at Derek.

Derek laughed and leaned in, kissing her softly on the lips. "We didn't have sex last night with random people. We did it as married couple."

"That makes me feel better." Meredith rolled her eyes. As she looked at Derek again and met his bright smile, she couldn't help but smile too. "I don't even remember that part," she groaned. "…the part that was supposed to be the best from this story."

"That can be arranged," Derek chuckled. He flipped her onto her back and moved his body on top of her. "We're newlyweds, aren't we?"

Meredith wrapped her arms around his neck, giggling. "I suppose we are. So… we're going to try for six months."

"That's the plan," Derek smiled.

"That's the plan," Meredith repeated, smiling. Maybe it was because of Derek's strong body pressing against hers, his lips caressing her cheek, but the plan seemed reasonable to Meredith now.


	8. Challenges

N/A: Thank you all for your encouraging reviews! Keep them coming :)

Also thank you, Taylor for your help!

Here's **Chapter 8 - Challenges**

--

The light was bright orange in the hotel room when Derek woke up later that day. He moaned softly as he stretched his body slowly. Meredith was sleeping beside him, resting her head on his chest. She rubbed her nose sleepily as Derek's movement disturbed her and then she snuggled back in his arms, continuing to sleep soundly. Derek smiled as he looked down at her, watching her peaceful features as she slept. He chuckled quietly as he realized that he was holding his wife in his arms. A woman he just met was now carrying his name. He knew how crazy that was, but he didn't care; having her sleeping so close to him, feeling her breath tickling his chest, her chest moving against his body, he could sense the bond between them.

He slowly brushed the hair out of her face, caressing her cheek gently. She responded with a moan and a smile as she sleepily wrapped her arm around him. Derek cradled her in his arms and leaned in to kiss her softly on the forehead. Then he glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand behind Meredith. It was 6 o'clock in the afternoon already. They had spent the whole day in the hotel room like newly weds. Derek winced as he realized he should call home in Seattle and let the Webbers know where he was. He was supposed to show up at work the next day, but being in Vegas with Meredith, he knew he wouldn't get there.

Derek slowly rolled to his side, easing Meredith down on the bed carefully. He pulled the sheets over her before he climbed down from bed and looked for some clothes to put on him. He fumbled through his pants' pockets after his phone. As he found it, he noticed the battery had died. Derek sighed unhappy and put it down on the table. He took the hotel phone from there and went inside the bathroom with it.

He dialed a number and after only one ring, a female voice greeted him. "Dr. Webber's office."

"Patricia?" Derek asked. "It's Derek Shepherd."

"Dr. Shepherd!" Patricia replied with relief. "Dr. Webber is looking frantically for you. I'll put you on phone with him."

Derek sighed, preparing himself for Richard's lecture.

"Derek Shepherd, where are you?" Richard asked him, sounding furious.

"In Vegas," Derek chuckled, though he knew he shouldn't sound amused to Richard.

"Leave the jokes, Derek, because I'm not in the mood. Where are you? Where did you disappear like that? Adele is worried sick about you and I barely convinced her not to call your mother and alarm her."

Derek rolled his eyes, as the Webber family seemed to treat him like a child. "I'm in Vegas, Richard," he answered calmly. He could hear Richard's breath at the other side of the line, but no words came from him. "I'm in Vegas for real," he added.

"What are you doing in Vegas?" Richard asked him, confused.

"I decided I wanted a vacation for a few days. I wanted to go somewhere sunny. Look, I'm sorry for not calling you in time, but it was a last minute plan," Derek answered as he looked down at his ring.

"You decided to go on a vacation to Vegas. You wanted to go somewhere sunny," Richard repeated what Derek said, sounding dumbfounded.

"Yes," Derek answered.

"Are you there alone?" he asked him, though you could tell from his voice that he already knew the answer.

"No," Derek chuckled.

"Behave, Derek! Don't do anything stupid there and come back soon, because the new interns are due to start in three days," he announced.

Derek froze for a moment as he heard Richard's announcement. Meredith was one of the interns due to start her internship at Seattle Grace. Derek was staring blankly, dumfounded himself. He was going to be her boss, his wife's boss. She was going to be the boss's wife.

Derek continued to repeat that in his head until Richard's shout made him start.

"Derek!"

"Yes," he answered quickly, still giddy after his revelation. He hadn't thought about that and Meredith surely hadn't done it either.

"Did you hear what I said?" he asked, angrier.

"No," Derek chuckled embarrassed.

"Argh!" He could hear Richard's nervous growl. "I said you'll be working with Dr. Bailey's interns from now on."

"Dr. Bailey's interns," Derek repeated. "I got that. Ok then."

"When will you be back in Seattle?" Richard asked him.

"Uh, I'm not sure. In a few days maybe or sooner," Derek muttered.

"Make it sooner," Richard warned him very bossy. "I want you here when the interns are coming."

"Ok," Derek agreed reluctantly. He smiled as he looked past the closed door of the bathroom. _'I have one of your interns with me, actually'_ he said to himself, muffling his amusement. "Don't worry about me. I don't intend to lose my fortune on gambling," he chuckled.

"Have fun, Derek," Richard replied dryly, not sharing his sense of humor.

"Goodbye, Richard," Derek said and hung up the phone.

When Derek came out of the bathroom, after he had taken a quick shower, he found the room sunk in a dimmer light than half an hour ago and Meredith still sleeping, tucked between sheets in the middle of the bed. He walked over to the bed and lay down slowly beside her.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," he whispered in her ear after he had brushed her hair away. "Aren't you hungry?" he asked her in a soft voice as Meredith started groaning.

"Mhmm," she moaned sleepily and brushed her cheek against his hand.

"Wake up then." Derek smiled at her gesture. "Let's see what other crazy things we can do in Vegas."

Meredith opened her eyes slowly, smiling sleepily at him. "Crazier than getting married to a stranger?" she asked.

Derek pretended to be thinking of it and then smiled at her, shaking his head. "There's nothing crazier than getting married to a stranger."

"Then it'll be boring," Meredith whimpered childishly.

"That's true," Derek agreed, laughing. "We could try to spend 200,000 dollars in one night. Wouldn't that be fun?" He asked, smirking.

Meredith looked at him thoughtfully. "Do you think we could do it?" she asked him with sudden interest.

"We could try," he laughed.

"Nice," she muttered, smiling with thrill at Derek's suggestion. "What time is it?" she asked.

"A little past 6:30," Derek answered as he glanced at the alarm clock.

"Did I sleep all day?" she whimpered.

"No," he laughed. "Because the whole morning we had other activities," he rolled on top of her, propping his forearms on each side of her head. His lips brushed against hers slowly as she moaned, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I like this marriage thing… I think," she giggled.

"Me too," Derek laughed, caressing her cheek with the back of his hand. "Let's get ready to go out." He rolled down and stood up, holding out his hand for Meredith. "Oh and you should call home and tell them where you are or at least that you're ok."

Meredith pulled the sheets over her head, whimpering. She had completely forgotten about her friends and family. The last time she talked to any of them was before they split at Seattle Grace. How was she going to tell them she was now a married woman?

Derek pulled down the sheets from her face, smiling at her frowned expression. "You don't have to tell them right away. Just tell them you're ok. We'll tell them together about our wedding rings."

"Did you tell anyone?" she asked him.

"No," he smiled. "Not yet. I don't want to produce drama in Seattle via Manhattan so soon."

"I don't want to either," she agreed, sighing. "I say we should let Seattle live in peace for at least another day," she giggled softly at him.

"I agree," he smiled at her. "Get up now. I'll go take a look around downstairs to give you privacy," he said as he grabbed his shirt and put it on.

"Ok." Meredith sighed. "I'll go shower first," she said suddenly and stood up from bed, wrapped in sheets.

"You don't need to prepare a speech, Meredith." Derek laughed as he had guessed her hesitation and fear of calling home. "Besides you're a grown woman so you shouldn't be scared of what Mommy and Daddy say." He smiled teasingly.

Meredith didn't appreciate his joke, mostly because he was right. She was a grown woman now and she had lived on her own for a long time; why was she so afraid of her family's reaction? Probably because they didn't know how independent she had been throughout her youth.

When she came out of the bathroom, Meredith found the room empty. Derek hadn't returned from downstairs. She smiled slightly as she thought of Derek. The fact that he gave her privacy for a simple phone call at home brought another point of sympathy, after he had gained some other points during the morning and probably during the wedding night.

She sat down on the edge of the bed and sighed before she reluctantly picked up the phone and dialed.

"Meredith?" The familiar voice greeted her before Meredith could say a word or make a sound.

"How did you know it's me?" Meredith asked her curiously.

"It's not that difficult, Meredith," Cristina said in annoyance. "You're the missing person and who else could have called from another state in this situation. Where in the world are you?"

"I'm in this world," Meredith replied, giggling teasingly.

"Oh please," Cristina retorted with the same annoyance. "At least you seem cheerful and that's a good sign," she concluded. "Now spit it out. Where are you?"

Meredith bit her lip hesitantly before she answered. "I'm in Vegas." she cleared her throat and tried to sound casually.

Then a worrying silence fell between them. From the other end of the line, no sound was coming; not even breathing, though Meredith knew the connection was still on.

"That's right, Cristina. I'm in Vegas," Meredith repeated, knowing that her friend had heard her the first time.

"What in the hell have you done?" Cristina asked her in a low, stupefied voice.

Meredith felt a lump form in her throat as she heard Christina's question. "How do you know I've done something?"

"You're in Vegas!" Cristina shouted her lungs out. "This can mean only two things. You're either married or broke and since you can't be broke because you're not quite that rich, I tend to believe that you're married."

Meredith sighed and Cristina heard that. "So you're married," she concluded. "Who is the guy?"

"Derek," Meredith mumbled.

"Who's Derek?" Cristina asked with fake interest.

"The guy I met at… at…" she stammered, unable to find the courage to admit.

"It sounds like the 'at' that place is a very interesting place," Cristina stated sarcastically.

"At the claiming office," Meredith muttered quickly.

"That Derek," Cristina said to herself as if she knew him. "So… you married a guy you just met."

"Yeah," Meredith sighed.

"Is he at least good in bed?" Cristina asked her.

"Cristina!" Meredith spat, irritated.

"I guess there is a bright side to this story. He wasn't a one-night stand. You had sex with your husband."

"That's what Derek said too," Meredith giggled.

"What have you done, Meredith? How could you be so stupid?" Cristina couldn't see the fun in Meredith's act. "How could you marry a guy you just met?"

"He's a nice man, Cristina," Meredith said defensively.

"I'm sure he is," she replied sarcastically. "He married a woman he had just met, didn't he?"

"We were drunk," Meredith retorted.

"Oh, so he is also irresponsible, not just nice," was Cristina's sharp reply.

"Shut up," Meredith muttered. "You're going to like him."

"I doubt it, but whatever. When are you coming home?" Cristina asked her.

"I don't know," Meredith sighed. "Probably tomorrow. Don't tell anyone," she warned her. "We'll tell my family."

"You fell in love with him, didn't you? I knew that it had to be something more than the alcohol that clouded your mind," Cristina said.

"I did not fall for him," Meredith muttered, frowning.

"And you have no intention to divorce," Cristina continued.

"Not right away," she muttered.

"Whatever, just come home already. Oh and where are you planning to live with that guy?" Cristina asked her.

That took Meredith by surprise. She hadn't thought yet about how her life with Derek would go on after they return from Vegas. Cristina pointed out an important thing. "We'll see," she muttered. "I have to go now."

"Sure," Cristina replied, still annoyed. "I'll see you when you get home."

Meredith hung up the phone and sighed. She lay down on the bed, closing her eyes and trying to wrap her mind around what she had done by marrying with Derek. There was more to marriage than sex. They were handling the sex very well, but how would they manage to control the rest?

That's how Derek found her when he returned from downstairs. "It didn't go that well," he said as he lay down beside her.

Meredith shook her head in response. "I have a very smart friend, so … it didn't go that well," she sighed.

"Are you scared?" he asked her softly.

"Of marriage?" she asked him as she turned to look at him. Derek nodded. "Yes," she sighed again.

"Are you afraid of me?" he asked her cautiously.

Meredith frowned at his question. "No," was her straight answer. She knew for sure she should be afraid of Derek's presence.

"It'll be an interesting experience, Meredith," Derek said softly, caressing her cheek. "No harm will be done,"

"Promise?" she looked at him, smiling playfully.

"Promise," he leaned in and kissed her tenderly on the lips.

"Ok," she smiled gratefully. "Are you ready to spend 200,000 dollars in one night?"

"I am," Derek smirked. "Are you?"

"It's a tempting challenge," Meredith giggled.

"More challenging than the marriage?" he asked her, laughing.

Meredith thought about it for a moment, before she answered. "At least as challenging as the marriage."

"Let's go." Derek stood up and helped Meredith up as well. "We need to feed our stomachs and our curiosity," he said, wrapping an arm around her.

"Curiosity?" she asked him, confused.

"We need to find out more about each other," he pointed out.

"Oh," Meredith wrapped her arm around him as well and nodded in agreement.


	9. Nice to meet you

_**Chapter 9 – Nice to meet you**_

"We're pathetic," Derek chuckled, shaking his head as he drove to the restaurant.

"Excuse me?" Meredith smiled sarcastically.

Derek glanced at her, smiling and then he looked ahead, paying attention to the road. "We are," he said. "We couldn't spend 200,000 dollars in one evening."

Meredith rolled her eyes and smiled as she looked out her window. "I don't think anyone can do it… unless they gamble and lose it."

"One dress and one pair of shoes? Seriously, Mer," Derek laughed as he glanced at her. "What kind of woman are you?" he asked teasingly. "Even I did better than you and I don't like shopping."

"Oh shut up," Meredith giggled. "You should be happy because this means you won't have to worry each time I have your credit card. Besides, I'm not like any other woman," she admitted proudly.

"You're right on that," Derek chuckled.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Meredith scowled at him as if he had said something offending.

"I mean you're right about your carelessness regarding my credit card," he laughed. He glanced at her, seeing her smiling. "And you're right about the other thing too," he added, carefully looking for her reaction. He took her hand as he saw her frowning out her window and kissed it. "You're brave," he said softly, still cradling her hand in his.

"For getting married to a stranger?" she giggled. Derek chuckled and nodded. "No," Meredith laughed now, shaking her head. "I'm insane."

Derek let off her hand so that he could hold the steering wheel more carefully and laughed. "We've just found a first thing we have in common," he said and smiled at her. "We both have a little bit of insanity."

"That's not good for a neurosurgeon," she laughed.

"Oh and here's another one," he glanced at her, smirking. "We're both doctors, so we should get along pretty well regarding our careers."

Meredith gasped and looked at Derek, shocked.

"What is it?" Derek asked her, slightly worried.

Meredith continued to stare dumbfounded at him before she could gather her thoughts. He was… "You are…" she babbled. "You're my boss. I'm married to my boss," she muttered, stunned of her revelation.

"You're slow, Dr. Grey," Derek chuckled teasingly. "I suppose this means you won't stick around me in neuro too much."

Meredith gasped again.

"What now?" Derek laughed.

"I don't know your last name! I don't know my last name!" she shouted, suddenly panicked.

Derek sighed and his smile faded. That wasn't a good thing, no matter how much they were trying to call it crazy. "Derek Shepherd," he muttered.

"Meredith Shepherd," she muttered under her breath. She looked out her window, thoughtful. Again, the idea of continuing this marriage seemed like a bad one.

This time, Derek shared her thoughts.

They had tied their lives to each other… two strangers. Maybe that was a crazy thing, but it was also stupid.

As she was staring blankly out her window, Meredith felt his hand covering hers. She looked at him; he was gazing out the windshield. "Are you freaking out?" she asked him quietly.

Derek looked at her and smiled slightly as he nodded. "A little."

"Do you want to back out?" she asked him in the same quiet voice.

"No," he answered sincerely. His fingers caressed her ring before he let go of her hand. "Do you?" he asked her back.

Meredith rested her head against her seat, looking at him as she thought. "Me neither," she answered. He looked confident in whatever was going to happen for the next six months and that was encouraging for her.

Derek smiled at her and then looked out the windshield as he turned off the engine. "Here's a good restaurant," he said.

"Have you ever been here before?" she asked him as she looked at the restaurant.

"In Vegas? No," Derek chuckled. "But they do have a restaurant in Manhattan too." He unfastened his seatbelt and got off the car. He walked around and held the door open for Meredith.

"So you're from Manhattan," she said, taking his hand.

"Yes," he smiled, shutting the door behind her. "Now you know another thing about me," he chuckled cheerfully. "Let's get inside, because I'm curious to find out more about you and I'm excited to tell you more about me."

"Are you that exciting?" she asked him, laughing.

"I thought you knew that already," he frowned teasingly.

--

"Let me start first," Derek suggested after they both sat down to the table and the waiter had handed them the menus.

"Before you start," Meredith cut him off. "Do you know my last name?" Derek smiled amusingly at her. "I mean… my maiden name," she rephrased her question.

"Grey," he answered and smiled smugly as he saw the surprise from her face. "I held our airplane tickets," he said.

"Oh ok," Meredith nodded. "So… your full name is…"

"Derek Christopher Shepherd," Derek answered. "I was born on the 17th of January in Manhattan. Do I have to tell my full biography, like all the pre-schools and school I attended?"

"No," she giggled. "Tell me about your parents."

Derek cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair, smiling at Meredith. "My father passed away 5 years ago of heart attack,"

"I'm sorry," Meredith said sincerely.

"That's ok now," he smiled at her. "His name was Christopher Shepherd. My mother's name is Elisabeth Marie Malone-Shepherd, but everyone calls her Ella and she lives in South Hampton now, so you can expect a revolution all across America after we announce our wedding," Derek chuckled. "I have four sisters, Anna Caroline Edward, married to Robert Edward and they have four children, 3 girls and a boy, Alex…"

"Let's limit ourselves to your sisters' name only," Meredith cut him off, already dazed by his big family.

"It's a little too much, isn't it?" he laughed.

"Just a little," she giggled.

"Ok," Derek chuckled. "So I have Anna, she is the oldest, and then there's Kathleen and her husband's name is James. They have 5 kids. Then there is Nancy; she's newly divorced, but they have two kids together and then there's me, and then my youngest sister, Ashley. She is single too."

"Single too?" she asked him, amused. "Who else is single?"

Derek realized then that he was no longer single and that his sister was his only sibling unmarried. "Sorry about that. I have to get used with the new status."

"That's ok," she laughed.

"Now it's your turn," he pointed to her. "Tell me about your birth place, parents and siblings."

"I don't have siblings. I am the only child. I was born in Seattle on the 15th of September. My father's name is Thatcher Grey and my mother's name is Ellis Grey and that's it."

"Wait," Derek folded his arms across his chest and leaned over the table. "Your mother's name is Ellis Grey?"

Meredith rolled her eyes amusingly. "I knew you would bring that up. And yeah… she is the Ellis Grey you think she is."

"Wow," Derek chuckled, impressed. "I'm Ellis's Grey son-in-law now."

"Get over it, she will hate you once she meets you," Meredith smiled teasingly.

"And your father's name is Thatcher Grey?" he asked her with the same amazement in his voice as in his previous question.

This time, Meredith looked at him, confused. "Yes; why?"

"Wow," he chuckled again. "I'm Thatcher Grey's son-in-law too."

"Why are you so proud of it?" she asked him, amused by his amazement.

"I'm a fan of your father's," he confessed.

"I didn't know my father was such a celebrity." She rolled her eyes. "Besides being Ellis's husband," she said. "And Meredith Grey's father," she added jokingly.

Derek laughed along with her. "I read most of your father's researches about the marine habitat. I like the fishing ones the most." Meredith rolled her eyes at his statement. "So you're not a big fan of fishing or the outdoors," he concluded.

"No, I'm not a big fan," she admitted. "I like it, but I'm not obsessed with it."

Derek frowned as he heard that. "So you're calling me obsessed?"

Meredith looked away and smiled teasingly as an answer.

In that moment, the waiter came to their table to take their orders. Scowling at Meredith, Derek picked up his menu and opened it. "Is your favorite food listed on their menu?" he asked Meredith.

"No," Meredith mumbled, looking over her menu. "I'll have roast potatoes with sage and orange and baked chicken breast," she gave her order to the waiter. "I don't have favorite food. I eat anything," she informed Derek.

Derek smiled and then gave his order. "I'll have baked fennel with garlic butter and vermouth. That," he said, turning to look at Meredith, "Is my favorite food so keep that in mind."

Meredith raised her brows, amused. "I don't cook so I don't care what your favorite food is."

"This means that I have to be the perfect husband?" he chuckled.

"Only if you want to, but I can be the perfect wife too," Meredith giggled. "As I said, I eat anything, so you shouldn't worry about what you cook."

"Excuse me," the waiter cleared his throat interrupting them. "Would you like to have a drink? Wine? Beer? Champagne?" he asked them.

Meredith and Derek looked at each other and they both smiled as they gave the answer in unison. "No, thank you."

"Ok," the waiter smiled nervously at them as if he had offended them with his question. "Any dessert?" he asked them hesitantly.

"I'd like a slice of cheese cake," Derek answered quickly and then looked at Meredith.

Meredith thought for a second and then made a decision. "I'd like a strawberry ice cream."

"Alright," the waiter noted down Meredith's order too and smiled at them. "Your food should be here in about 20 minutes."

"Take your time," Derek smiled at him. "We have a lot to catch up on with each other," he grinned as he turned to look at Meredith.

"So… I assume cheese cake is your favorite dessert," Meredith looked at him questioningly.

"And strawberry ice cream is your favorite dessert," Derek replied and smiled as Meredith nodded. "Ok, so now we know general stuff about each other like names, parents and siblings. I like baked fennel with garlic butter and vermouth while you're a junk food eater," Derek chuckled teasingly while Meredith grinned sarcastically. "I like cheese cake for dessert and you like the strawberry ice cream," he continued. "Oh and you don't cook, which leads me to believe that you don't do housework either and I'll be the wife."

"Shut up now," Meredith warned him, laughing.

"Ok, what else should we find out now," Derek leaned back in his chair, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully.

"Are we going to live together?" she asked him.

"Of course," Derek rolled his eyes. "How else can we make this marriage work if we live apart?"

"Where?" She asked him straight.

Now that was a hard question for Derek. He was sharing an apartment with Preston, but that place was one for bachelors so he couldn't take Meredith to live there. "Don't you have a house to live?"

"I do," she answered. "Are you willing to share an apartment with three other women?" she giggled as she saw the grin on his face. "And share the same bedroom with me and my cousin?" Derek's expression turned slightly into a grimace. "Make a note of that," she laughed.

"What?" he asked her, confused.

"You don't like threesomes, which is actually a shame because a threesome could be really fun," she said casually, purposely teasing Derek.

"Hey, I really like you!" Derek exclaimed enthusiastically.

Meredith grinned knowingly, giving him a moment to enjoy it before giving him a reply. "I only like the 1 woman for 2 men pairing."

Derek's enthusiasm faded and shook his head. "Rather not," he muttered.

"So we don't have a place to live," she said. "Or… no, never mind," she changed the thought immediately.

"You have a place where we could live together. Or at least you know of one," Derek concluded, watching her suspiciously. "I'm your husband, you can't let me sleep on your doorstep," he said jokingly.

Meredith was too focused on her thoughts to smile at his joke. She did have a place where she could live with Derek. "The place where I lived as a child," she muttered.

"So we got that covered," Derek said.

"But it needs a lot of work. Nobody has lived there for almost 6 years."

"Yet it's still a safe place to live, right?" he asked.

"Yeah. My parents wanted a new neighborhood, closer to Mercy West Hospital," she said.

"We can clean the place. How big can the mess be? Besides, we'll start by cleaning the most important rooms: our bedroom, the kitchen and the bathroom. We'll do the rest in time," Derek said enthusiastically. Then he stopped as he saw Meredith's discomfort with the discussion they were having. "You don't want us to live together?" he asked her softly.

Meredith was now staring down at the table, playing with her napkin.

"Mer." He touched her hands gently, making them stop crumpling the napkin.

"I think we should take this thing slower," she muttered. She met his comforting smile as she glanced up at him.

"Slower than marriage?" he asked her.

"This marriage is only on paper for now, Derek," she said as she looked into his eyes. "Living together means …this means living with the marriage. We should take it slower. Let's get to know each other better. Like dating, for example."

"Dating could be fun," Derek agreed, smiling at her. "I guess you have a point with that. That's why we ended up married in the first place," he sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "I went too fast."

Meredith looked at him as she nodded in agreement. "We could start cleaning the house… slowly. This before we move in together," she babbled.

"Ok," Derek agreed. "We could do that."

"Ok," she smiled, more relaxed now.

At that point, they had managed to talk and clear some aspects of their new life without involving serious fights, only teasing and cheerful quarrels and that was encouraging for both of them.

"So I'm married to my boss," Meredith sighed and tried to pick up their conversation about themselves. She leaned back in her chair, a smile growing on her lips as she watched him smiling at her.

"Don't get too excited over this because I won't favor you," he warned her in a more serious tone.

"I wasn't going to ask you for favors," she huffed. "Actually nobody from the hospital should know that we're married. I should go by my maiden name."

"That sounds fair," Derek nodded in agreement. A crooked smile spread across his face as he leaned over the table to her. "Since I'm going to be your boss at work, I allow you to be my boss at home."

"Gee, thanks!" Meredith squealed with sarcastic enthusiasm, which made Derek laugh. "Do you know who your resident is? Maybe we'll get to work together a lot during your residency."

"No," Meredith shook her head. "I haven't found out yet. I know there are teams of doctors, right?" she asked him curiously.

"Yes," Derek nodded. "Each resident and its interns get certain attendings to work with. For example, the Chief has just told me I'll be working with Dr. Bailey and her interns. I'm the head of Neuro Department, by the way," he added, smiling smugly at her.

Meredith just rolled her eyes. "I heard about her," Meredith said, referring to Dr. Bailey. "My mom was impressed with her when she had to attend a critical patient at Seattle Grace a while ago."

"I heard she's one of the best residents that Seattle Grace has," Derek said.

"You said your boss is also your friend or something like that," Meredith said as she remembered what he had told her the night they left for their sunny vacation.

"That's right," Derek chuckled as he read the shock on her face. "You're on high horses now because of this marriage, Meredith."

"This will go very badly," she growled quietly as she threw her head back and closed her eyes briefly.

"It won't go bad," Derek reached out for her hand and gave it a light squeeze of encouragement. "Let's try to make it well. We'll separate the work from our personal life."

Meredith looked at him as he spoke and nodded, unconvinced.

"It will," he assured her, winking at her. "Back to our personal life now," he suggested. "What are you hobbies, Meredith?" he asked her.

"I don't have hobbies," she answered simply.

"Ok… what do you like to do with your free time?" he rephrased his question.

"Well..." she cleared her throat and looked at him smiling. "I only have free time in the evening because until not too long ago, I was in Med School studying and soon I'll be at the hospital, working and learning so, I either hang out with my friends, or I stay at home, eat junk food and watch crappy television programs."

"How old are you?" he asked curiously.

"That's not an appropriate thing to ask a woman," she giggled teasingly.

"Yeah but you're my wife now, so I have to know," he grinned back at her.

"25," she answered, smiling at him. "Should I call you grandpa?" she asking him teasingly.

"That depends," he laughed. "Do I look and perform like a grandpa at 36?" he asked her, still laughing.

Meredith laughed too. "How should I know how a grandpa… performs?"

"The difference is not that big," he said, a little more serious now.

"It's not," she agreed, smiling. "Do you have other hobbies besides fishing… and my dad?" she asked him.

Derek chuckled at the last part of her question. "I like reading," he said. "Oh and I look forward to meeting your dad."

"I wouldn't," she giggled. "You married his little daughter without his blessing, so I doubt that you two are going to be friends."

"I charmed his daughter, so I won't have problems making him like me." Derek cleared his throat and smirked smugly at her.

"You got his daughter drunk," she pointed out, giggling.

"Yeah, but I convinced her not to divorce me, didn't I?" he replied smugly.

Meredith rolled her eyes and decided to give up and not feed his ego more.

During the dinner, Meredith told Derek about Cristina and Lexie and Derek told her about his best friend Mark and about the permanent competition between him and Preston Webber. He also told her about his goal of becoming the Chief of surgery one day, while Meredith said she didn't have another goals besides becoming a great surgeon.

Meredith had her head resting on him, with his arm around her shoulder, holding her to his chest while they were watching down the canal where a gondola was just passing by, carrying a young happy couple.

"I don't remember when we got on the gondola," she muttered as watched the loving way that the woman was looking into her man's eyes.

"You stumbled a little, but I was there to catch you," he said softly, his lips breathing against her forehead. He smiled as she looked up at him.

"I don't even remember anything from the ceremony," she sighed as she drew her eyes back down over the water.

"I only remember one thing," he said, his eyes still on her. She looked up at him again as she could feel his gaze. "I remember your eyes," he said, looking into her eyes. He leaned in as he lifted her chin and kissed her softly on the lips. "You're a beautiful woman and I have enjoyed your company these last two days more than you believe. I'm optimistic, Meredith."

Meredith closed her eyes briefly, fighting back the tears and put her head on his chest again. She had enjoyed his company too. "Derek?" She looked up at him and smiled as she looked into his eyes. "Nice to meet you, Derek," she said softly.

"Nice to meet you too, Meredith," he smiled back, caressing her cheek.

--

N/A: **With the next chapter, Meredith and Derek start their life as newly weds in Seattle, so stay tune! The bad news is that I'll be gone on vacation for the next 3 weeks so there won't be any updates until then, but the good news is that I'll keep writing during these 3 weeks.  
Thank you all for reading and commenting to this fic!!**

**  
Dana**


	10. The Shepherd

**N/A: New chapter!! Thank you all for reading and reviewing my fic!**

**--**

Derek watched how her foot continued to tap the airplane's floor in a nervous rhythm and the way her teeth were nibbling on her bottom lip. "You're going to crush the plane," he whispered in her ear as he put his hand on her leg to keep it still.

Meredith looked at him, wrinkles of worry marring her forehead.

"It will be fine," he smiled reassuringly. He shifted closer to her and put an arm around her shoulders. "We're taking it slow, remember? We're still in the dating phase," he said softly while her gaze turned out the window.

"We should wait a couple of days before we tell anyone," she muttered. Though Cristina knew already about her marriage, Meredith knew she could trust her that she would keep it secret.

"Ok," Derek sighed. "Just so that you can get used to the idea and gain some courage," he agreed.

Meredith looked at him, confused. "Aren't you afraid of what people will say about you?"

"No," he frowned. "And you shouldn't care either. I thought you were more independent than that."

"I am," she grumbled, displeased. She folded her arms across her chest and glared out the window.

"Then stop worrying. You're a grown woman who has the right to make whatever decision she thinks is good for her," he said.

"Getting married wasn't exactly a decision I made by myself," she muttered as she continued to stare out the window. She could see Derek's reflection in it, as he was watching her. "The alcohol made it for me." She turned and looked at him. "And you," she said with a hint of reproach in her voice.

"Now please don't throw all of the blame on me for this," Derek retorted, irritated by the easiness she was blaming him each time the fear of marriage was getting to her. "You could have said no to all those bottles of champagne or you can get out of this whenever you want to. I'm not keeping you hostage."

He pulled back his arm from around her shoulders and shifted to the other side of his seat, further from her.

Meredith leaned her side to the window as she looked outside. She felt bad for what she said. He was right.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence and tapping her foot against the floor, Meredith sighed and repositioned herself in her seat. "I'm sorry," she muttered and held out her hand to him.

Derek looked at her and then at her hand, back to her face as he saw her faint smile. He smiled back and took her hand. "I think we had a great honeymoon."

"I think we did," she smiled at him.

She actually did have a great honeymoon and funny, pleasant moments with Derek. She put her head on his shoulder and his arm hugged her shoulders again while he moved closer to her. It felt good to both of them.

**--**

After she had dropped Derek at the hospital, Meredith drove herself back home; back to the real world, because what she had lived with Derek in for the past days had been more of a fantasy than a reality.

The reality of her marriage was just now starting to roll out.

"Finally!" Lexie's sigh of relief greeted her before she could even step inside the apartment.

"Meredith, where have you been?" she showed up in the doorway in a flash. "Cristina told us you were on an expedition or something? Where have you been? Why did you disappear like that? Why did it take you so long to call us?" As the questions were flowing out of her mouth, the worry in her voice was also turning into reproach. "You abandoned us at the hospital without the car. Alex had to drive us back home. Seriously, Meredith, you have a serious explanation to give us."

"Move out of the doorway," Meredith growled, stepping ahead and pushing Lexie back inside the apartment.

In the meantime, announced by Lexie's intense lecture, Izzie and Cristina showed up in living room. Meredith saw Cristina's smirk as Lexie was lecturing her about her disappearance.

"Expedition, huh?" Meredith chuckled as she made her way inside too.

Lexie followed her closely. "That's not funny, Meredith!" she spat.

"It's not that funny, indeed, but I don't need to give you any explanation," she retorted. Earlier that day, Derek had doubted her independence and now Lexie was underestimating her too. "And we should stop depending on one car."

"Now let her breathe, Lexie," Izzie interfered, pacifying everyone. "She will tell us where she has been until today after both of you calm down and she gets some rest."

Meredith noticed a weird smile on Izzie as she said that. She decided to ignore her, thinking that it was just one of her weird smiles.

"Yeah, she needs rest after such an exhausting expedition," Cristina chuckled, taking Meredith's suitcase and heading towards her room.

Meeting Lexie's glare, Meredith chose to follow Cristina, preferring to deal with her mockery than explaining anything to her cousin.

Cristina was already sitting at the edge of the bed, when Meredith walked in and closed the door.

"So the newlywed is home," Cristina smiled teasingly at Meredith.

Meredith ignored her comment and went to take her suitcase, which Cristina had left beside the bed. She picked it up and threw it on her bed.

Cristina saw she was being ignored, but she wasn't going to give up so easily. "You confessed to me that you were married, so now spit it out. You can't leave me like this."

"First of all," Meredith started calmly. "I didn't confess anything. You guessed. Secondly, I can leave you like this."

"You have to tell me at least your new last name," Cristina insisted.

Meredith unzipped her suitcase, ignoring her again.

"Meredith." Cristina smiled knowingly at her. "I know you too well," she said. Meredith looked up at her curiously. "I know you need to share this with someone," Cristina continued. "Who else is better than me to keep your secrets?"

"And mock me for life," Meredith smiled flakily.

"True," Cristina chuckled. "But you still need me," she pointed out knowingly. She moved to the middle of the bed, beside Meredith's suitcase and faced her, waiting.

Meredith sighed, giving in. Cristina was right. She made herself room at the edge of the bed, watching thoughtful her left hand. "Shepherd," she muttered.

There was no reply coming from Cristina and that made Meredith look up at her. She saw her then staring at her, inexpressive.

"Say something," Meredith groaned, rolling her eyes annoyed by Cristina's silence.

"What should I say?" Cristina answered. "You said shepherd. What about shepherd?"

Meredith groaned louder. "That's my new last name," she said. She rolled her eyes and looked away as she saw the amusement creeping on Cristina's face.

"So the loser's name is Shepherd, huh?" Cristina cleared her throat, hiding her laugher.

"He's not a loser!" Meredith spat.

That took Cristina by surprise. "You really like him."

"I do not like him," she grumbled.

"Then he must be rich," Cristina concluded.

Meredith just glanced at Cristina.

"You married him for money?" Cristina burst out laughing. "I didn't know you were so eager to become rich."

"I am not," Meredith grumbled. "And I don't know if he is rich," she continued. "But he has a well-paid job."

"Ok, so… what's the shepherd doing?" Cristina asked mockingly.

"Stop calling him that!" Meredith scowled at her friend. "His name is Derek."

"Derek sounds better," Cristina nodded, adopting a fake serious posture. "Ok so … what is Derek doing for living?" she reformed her previous question.

"He is a neurosurgeon," Meredith answered, now smiling smugly at her.

Now Cristina was quiet and thoughtful. "He is a neurosurgeon," she muttered under her breath.

"What now?" Meredith groaned.

Cristina looked into her eyes, still thoughtful. Slowly, the corners of her mouth twisted into a smile. "Derek Shepherd is Dr. Derek Shepherd, the new head of neurology at Seattle Grace," Cristina said calmly. Then she burst, shocked. "You are married to your boss now!"

"I may not directly work with him," Meredith said, shrugging and trying not to look stressed about it.

"Nice," Cristina smiled, impressed. "You scored high."

"Stop saying that!" Meredith snapped. "I didn't know he was my boss when I first met him and besides that, we agreed that we won't mix the personal life with the professional one."

"When exactly did you meet him?" Cristina asked, interested.

"At the airport; at the claiming office," she said.

"So you met a guy during the day and by the end of it you were married to him."

"Kind of," Meredith muttered.

"I still don't understand why you agreed to stay married," Cristina stared at her, thoughtful. "You don't make a commitment to any man. You must like him more than you liked the others."

"Not really," Meredith looked away as she muttered and Cristina knew she was lying. "It's more like a challenge," she continued, trying to sound convincing.

"Yet, he must be one hell of a man if you accepted a challenge like this," Cristina pointed out.

"What do you want me to say? He is good-looking… and smart… and good in bed," Meredith trailed off. "But I don't know him well enough to know if I like him.

"You say he is good in bed, so to me it sounds like you like him… at least a little bit," Cristina said.

"Just a little bit," Meredith grumbled.

"Ok, so what is going to happen now?" Cristina asked.

"What do you mean?" Meredith looked at her, confused.

"With you and your husband. Are you two moving in together? Having babies?" Cristina asked. "Oh…" she gasped as she remembered something. "Is he going to meet your parents? Are you going to meet his parents?"

"Right now we're taking things slow. We are dating," Meredith stated.

"You're not going to tell them," Cristina concluded.

"Not yet. How do you want me to go tell them tomorrow that I am a married woman now?" Meredith rolled her eyes. "And besides this, to tell them that I am married to a man which I just met?"

"You're right on that one," Cristina agreed. "So you'll continue to live with us."

"Yes," Meredith nodded. She sighed then and looked down at her ring, playing with it. "Do you think this is stupid?" she asked and glanced up at her best friend.

"Yes," Cristina answered straight.

Meredith sighed again. "Derek says we should make this the craziest thing we've ever done and not let it be the stupidest."

"That might work," Cristina said. "Now tell me everything about how did it happen?"

"What?" Meredith asked, confused.

"The whole marriage thing," her friend cleared out, rolling her eyes.

Meredith groaned, unpleased. "I don't remember much, so I have nothing to tell you,"

"Relate what you remember," Cristina suggested, unwilling to let go.

Meredith scowled at her, but she did indeed need someone to talk about her adventure in Las Vegas and Cristina was the only person she could trust she wouldn't tell anyone. "We gambled and won over 200,000 dollars, then we…"

"Wait," Cristina cut in. "You won what?" she asked, shocked.

"200,000 dollars," Meredith smiled smugly. "This, by the way, means that I will buy myself a car right away."

"So you won the money, not him,"

"Well no. We kind of both did… but mostly me," Meredith answered.

Cristina looked at her frustrated and still confused. "Who has the money now?"

"I do," Meredith said.

"All of it?" Cristina checked.

"Yes," Meredith frowned. She was now the frustrated one with all the questions about her money.

"Where is it?" Cristina asked.

"In my suitcase," she shrugged nonchalantly.

"Are you crazy?" Cristina burst and started throwing clothes out of Meredith's suitcase.

Meredith shrugged again and smiled as she watched her friend looking for the money.

"It's not here," she looked at Meredith, worried.

"Of course it's not. I have it in my bank account," Meredith rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Did you really believe that I would carry so much money in my suitcase?"

"Well, I didn't believe that you would ever get so drunk and get married either," Cristina retorted sarcastically.

Meredith hissed but she didn't retort, knowing that her friend was right.

"So, you are Meredith Shepherd now," Cristina drew the conclusion.

"But only you know it," Meredith warned her.

Cristina smiled and shook her head in a disapproving way. "Happy to be your friend," she chuckled.

"Don't make fun of me," Meredith scowled.

"I won't," Cristina rolled her eyes, smiling. "Actually, I have some things to learn from your 'expedition'," she smiled smugly, making air quotes.

"You do?" Meredith asked suspiciously.

"Yes," Cristina nodded. "I'll get so drunk before my wedding ceremony that I won't be able to remember anything afterwards."

"You don't commit either," Meredith pointed out.

"Oh, I do. I just hate the whole wedding thing," Cristina said. "You know my mother and her pleasure of doing fancy and girly parties. Imagine how she would act with my wedding preparations." She rolled her eyes, irritated just thinking about it.

"Ok, Shepherd," Cristina grinned at Meredith as she stood up. "I'll let you get some rest. I'm sure that being a 'Shepherd' is not an easy thing," she said mockingly.

"Shut up," Meredith scowled at her.

Cristina kept on smiling as she walked to the door. She walked out and sneaked her head inside again. "Shepherd," she whispered loudly and hurried then to close the door, before Meredith's pillow could hit it.

Meredith giggled and pushed the suitcase down from bed, lying on her stomach, smiling. "Shepherd," she muttered under her breath. "Stupid." She giggled and rubbed her face against the pillow, closing her eyes and drifting to sleep.

--

The rain was pouring down her window and a thunder sounded. Meredith stirred, her eyes fluttering as she woke up. It was dark in her room and she struggled to recognize the room. Her short vacation to Vegas had been exhausting from many points. She sunk her face back into the pillow. She remembered then that she was no longer in Vegas with Derek and that she was back in Seattle.

Meredith turned her face and looked at the alarm clock from her nightstand. It was a few minutes past 7. She closed her eyes again and gave herself a few more minutes of sleep.

A strong noise, coming from the other room, made her jump upright, scared. She looked confusedly around, trying to understand what happened. Meredith glanced at the clock again. She had slept only five more minutes.

Meredith noticed then the unusual silence in the apartment. Cristina loved to have the music playing loudly and Lexie was usually arguing with her because of it. Probably things had changed in the meantime, but Meredith still needed to check. She crawled out of the bed, stretching her body and ran her hands through her messy hair, gathering it in a ponytail.

She trailed out of the room, being greeted by the darkness of the hall. She thought then that nobody was at home and maybe the noise that woke her up had been in her dream. Meredith headed towards the kitchen for a snack, as she hadn't eaten since she and Derek were in the airport in Vegas.

There was light and noise as if someone was cooking coming from the kitchen, so Meredith wasn't home alone as she thought. Walking inside, Meredith saw Izzie decorating a chocolate cake.

"Did I wake you up?" Izzie asked her as she saw her coming in.

Meredith just nodded and walked sleepily to the refrigerator.

"I'm sorry," Izzie said, watching Meredith looking for something to eat. "There is some cold pasta if you want to heat it," she said helpfully.

Meredith didn't answer, but she immediately looked for the dish with the pasta. She shut the door and went to put the food into the microwave.

In the meantime, Izzie continued with the decoration of her cake, just from time to time glancing at Meredith. She put the spatula down and sighed as she looked at Meredith. "I don't know why you don't like me, but I think it would be nice of you if you'd try to," Izzie said, sounding a little irritated by the coldness that Meredith had treated her with since she came in Seattle.

Meredith looked up at her, surprised by Izzie's words. Then she understood she had been too harsh with Izzie and she was feeling sorry for it. "I'm sorry," Meredith mumbled. "I may be a little weird sometimes and this is a period of many changes for me."

"Like getting married?" Izzie asked her.

Meredith's head jerked up, looking at her shockingly. Had Cristina betrayed her confidence?

Izzie smiled at her and then she moved her attention back to her cake.

"How… how do you know?" Meredith stammered.

Izzie looked at her from the corner of her eyes, smiling. "You're wearing a wedding ring on your left hand, which you didn't have before you disappeared from home," she pointed out, looking at Meredith's ring.

Meredith frowned. She wanted to hide her marriage, but she had forgotten to take out the ring.

"I won't tell anyone, I promise," Izzie smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure that Cristina knows though."

Meredith nodded reluctantly. The microwave stopped then, so Meredith opened the door and took out the steamy dish of pasta. She hurried to drop it on the table, before it could burn her fingertips. She shook her hand in air wincing and then she went to take a fork.

Meredith returned then to table and took a seat down, throwing the fork into the dish. She let out a sigh as she looked back at her wedding ring. "Does Lexie know too?" she asked quietly, glancing up at Izzie.

"No," she shook her head. "She would have mentioned it if she had known. Although she is very observant, so maybe you should take it off if you want to keep it a secret," she suggested.

"Yeah," Meredith mumbled, playing with the ring around her finger.

"Why don't you want anyone to know about this?" Izzie asked her curiously.

"I don't want to talk about it," Meredith grumbled, glaring at her.

Izzie nodded and gave up. "You can have a slice after you eat," she said, bringing the cake on the table.

"Thanks," Meredith smiled faintly. "Where are the others?" she asked then, remembering her cousin and her friend's absence.

"Cristina is out and Lexie went to visit her parents," Izzie answered.

"Oh, ok," Meredith nodded. She picked up the fork and dug it in the food, twisting the pasta around it. She was about to take it to her mouth when she heard her phone ringing in her room.

Meredith dropped the forked and ran to get to her phone. She didn't have time to read the caller's ID and answered immediately. "Hi,"

"Meredith?" the man's voice asked.

Meredith looked then at the display screen and read 'Derek'. "Yes. Hi, Derek!" a smile spread across her face as she said his name.

"Did I interrupt anything?" Derek asked.

"Yes; my dinner," Meredith giggled.

"Oh," he sighed then, but Meredith knew he was acting. "I'm glad to see that you're still a faithful wife," Derek chuckled teasingly. "I got scared by your panting."

Meredith laughed. "I was actually cheating on your cooking skills with my roommate's food," she said, taking a seat at the edge of the bed.

"Ouch." Derek winced teasingly. "Try not to do it next time, because it hurts a little," he said, chuckling.

"Get to the point, Derek," Meredith laughed.

"Am I not allowed to call you from time to time to make conversation and make sure that …" he lowered his voice then, "my wife is ok?"

"I suppose that's alright to do," Meredith giggled.

"But yeah; you are right now," Derek said. "I called you for a reason. I called you to invite you to dinner… on a date."

Meredith couldn't help but keep on smiling as she listened to him. "Ok," she agreed.

"So we have a first date," Derek said.

"Right after our honeymoon," Meredith laughed.

Derek laughed too. "Don't you love it more like this?"

"I might," Meredith laughed.

"But I need you to do something… unusual for me," Derek said then, sounding a little uncomfortable.

"Do you want me to pay for the dinner?" she asked, laughing teasingly.

"No," Derek chuckled. "I need you to come with your car and pick me up from the hospital. I still didn't get to buy me a car."

"I can't," she answered immediately.

"Why?" Derek frowned.

"Because I don't have a car either," she said. "I had to steal my friend's car when I met you at the airport."

"Steal it again," he suggested.

"I can't. She is out and took the car," Meredith answered. "I'll take a taxi and I'll meet you at the hospital."

"Ok," Derek agreed reluctantly. "This isn't how I had planned our first date."

"You have weird plans, Derek," Meredith stated, giggling.

"I guess I have," he sighed. "Meet me here in an hour?"

"Ok," Meredith agreed.

"Ok," Derek smiled. "I'll see you later then."

"Bye," she said.

"See you later," he replied.

Meredith waited for him to hang up first, but apparently, Derek was waiting for the same thing. They both chuckled as they realized that and shut the phones at the same time.


	11. First obsession

Meredith first tried a lacy white top with a matching black skirt, then she switched them with a soft cashmere blouse and another skirt; afterwards, she tried on a blue tank top, added over it a white shirt, leaving its buttons open, and chose a black pair of pants.

She looked at herself in the mirror and frowned. In that moment, she regretted she wasn't a shopping fanatic.

"If he doesn't like it, he can divorce me," she muttered under her breath. She ran the brush through her hair a few times and spread it free over her shoulders. "Make up?" she asked herself. She looked around the nightstand and through its drawers. In the top drawer, Meredith found Lexie's make-up products. She applied a little mascara on her eyelashes and lip-gloss on her lips. "Done," she decided, looking at herself in the mirror again.

There was a knock on the door. "Meredith, did you call for a taxi?" Izzie asked through the closed door.

"Perfect," Meredith muttered. "Yes! I'm coming in a second!" she answered. She fumbled after her purse and stuffed her wallet and her phone in it.

"Wow!" Izzie exclaimed as she saw her coming out. "Hot date with the hubby?"

"Stop calling him that," Meredith warned her, scowling.

"Sorry," Izzie smiled, pulling an imaginary zipper over her lips. "Have fun."

"Yeah," Meredith grumbled as she stomped out the door.

**--**

As the taxi pulled into the parking lot in front of the hospital, Meredith took out her phone and dialed.

"Meredith, hi," Derek's voice greeted her at the other end of the line.

"Hey, I just got to the hospital. Should I hold the taxi and wait for you?" she asked him. She heard him sighing as she said that. "What's wrong?" she asked, a little worried that he may cancel their date.

"Something came up," Derek said apologetically.

Meredith let out a discreet sigh. "That's ok," she said, trying to sound convincing.

"You know what?" Derek came up with an idea. "Come up and meet me at the nurses' station on the third floor," he said.

"Are you sure? That's ok if we can't have dinner," she said, though she wasn't being honest.

"Come and meet me here," he reassured her.

"Ok," Meredith answered, confused. She hung up, paid the driver and got out of the car.

**--**

As the elevator doors opened, Meredith saw Derek, leaning against the counter and writing in a chart.

Meredith smiled to herself, admitting that she had a handsome husband. She giggled quietly and walked towards him.

"Hi," she said as she drew closer to him.

"Hey," Derek looked up as he noticed her presence, greeting her with a wide smile. "Sorry for this," he said, glancing down at his scrubs.

"That's ok," Meredith smiled reassuringly. "So what's your new plan?" she asked him.

"An unusual one," he assured her, smiling wickedly.

Meredith arched her brows suggestively. "Shock me," she giggled.

Derek chuckled. "There has been a collision on a highway nearby so I have to scrub in for an emergent surgery," he said.

"Ok," Meredith looked at him, confused.

"Would you like to assist to my surgery?" he asked her, smiling crookedly.

"What about not applying favors to your spouse?" Meredith frowned.

"Just this time," he smiled innocently. "I feel bad for ditching our first date, so this might make up for it," he said. "Don't you want to assist me?" he acted pouted.

"I do, but what if something happens?" Meredith asked, hesitant.

"What could happen?"

"I don't know… during the surgery,"

Derek chuckled and shook his head. "Nothing is going to happen because you are not going to touch any surgical instrument. It's just a small favor so you can see."

"I don't have scrubs," she pointed out.

"Come with me." Derek came to her side, put a hand on her back and led her towards an office. "Come on in," he said, opening the door for her and inviting her inside.

"Is this your office?" she asked, giving a short look to the room.

"My office is your office," Derek chuckled, closing the door. He closed the blinds as well, taking Meredith by surprise.

"What are you doing?" she asked. "Derek, you're not serious."

Derek frowned as he turned and looked at her. "Why?"

"We can't have sex in here. No favors, remember? Besides this little favor you're offering to me today," she added.

Derek smiled crookedly as he walked slowly towards her. He put an arm around her waist and brought her to him, while he ran his other hand through her hair. His head leaned down slowly to her, his lips barely brushing against hers teasingly. "I feel this carving of kissing you," he said softly and his lips covered hers.

Meredith gave in instantly, wrapping her arms around his neck and deepening the kiss, her tongue caressed by his.

Derek broke the kiss as he took her face between his hands and looked into her eyes. "Wait me here. I'm going to find you some scrubs," he told her.

"Ok," Meredith whispered, still dazed by the taste of his kiss.

"Make yourself comfortable," he told her, letting her out of his arms. "I'll be right back."

"Ok," she said quietly and watched him leave his office. She took a deep breath and shook her head, banishing the porny thoughts.

Meredith walked over to his desk and sat down in his chair, looking over the well-arranged desk. He had blank papers in a tray, a stack of folders beside them, and a set of photos as well. Meredith paid more attention to those photos now. There was a photo of an older woman, another one with the same woman beside an older man; Derek's parents, she thought.

There was a family photo as well; that photo frightened her a little. There were women and men together with children gathered somewhere in a backyard on a sunny day. Meredith recognized Derek easily, standing beside a brown haired woman, holding a blond little boy in his arms. He didn't have children otherwise he would have told her, she thought.

Meredith picked up then the photo of Derek's parents. Derek inherited his mother's eyes and her look. He had his father's curls, probably his hair color as well, as his mother had her hair dyed a dark blond shade, and his father's smile.

It felt weird and very uncomfortable for Meredith to see photos of her new family. His family definitely looked different from hers. She didn't remember ever having crowded gatherings on holidays; most of the times it was her and her father. Lexie and her family rarely visited as they used to live in another city.

She wasn't in the mood to get worried about Derek's family. Derek was ok, so, for the moment, it was all that mattered.

Meredith looked again over his desk and found a medical journal about neurology. She opened it and started browsing through it, waiting for Derek to return.

She was so caught up in the article she was reading, Meredith started when the door opened and voices came in. Meredith watched two young nurses walking inside, one of them carrying a chart in her arms.

"You're so lucky to take care of his patients," one of the nurses told the other, both of them not noticing Meredith's presence in Derek's office.

"I know," the other one giggled. "Your knees go soft when he smiles at you," she stated, continuing to giggle.

"Rose rubbed it in my face earlier that she has spent 3 hours in the OR, this morning," they stopped in the entrance still chatting and still not noticing Meredith.

"That's nothing," the other nurse replied with a smug smirk. "They don't have any eye-contact in there," she said. "They…" she gasped as she turned to Derek's desk and saw Meredith.

"Hi," Meredith smiled calmly at both of them, hiding her amusement. They were talking and drooling over her husband.

"Hi," the nurse who bragged that she had received a smile from Derek said quietly, looking confusedly at the other nurse.

"Who are you?" the other one asked, smiling politely at her as she thought that Meredith might be one of Derek's friends or even relatives.

"Dr. Shepherd asked me to wait for him here," Meredith said, avoiding the question.

"Are you here for a consult?" the same nurse asked her.

"Kind of," Meredith nodded. "You two were talking about him, weren't you?" Meredith smiled at them.

The nurses shared an uncomfortable look.

"He is hot," Meredith stated with convincing enthusiasm, which made the nurses believe that she might be one of his patients.

The nurses chuckled, while one of them put the chart on his desk. "You shouldn't sit there though," she said, now with a glare in her eyes.

"You're right," Meredith faked the embarrassment as she stood up and walked around the desk to go sit on the other side. "I don't want his wife to walk in and find me here," she said, sitting down.

"His wife?" one of the nurses asked, looking curiously at Meredith.

Meredith looked up at them and nodded apologetically. "I just noticed his wedding ring."

"He doesn't wear a wedding ring," the other nurse stated, though Meredith could tell she wasn't absolutely sure of it.

"You should check now before he scrubs in," Meredith suggested.

"Damn it," one of them muttered under her breath and Meredith smiled discreetly.

Meredith didn't look but she listened with satisfaction to their displeased grumbling as they walked out the office. "I hope he doesn't mind," she giggled as she lifted her hand and looked at her ring.

A few minutes later, the door opened again. "I'm back," Derek announced cheerfully as he walked inside.

Meredith switched her position in her chair to look at him.

"Here you have the key to your locker, your batch and a pair of scrubs," Derek said, handing her the stuff.

"You took them all?" Meredith asked, taking them from him. "So you told someone else about me."

Derek chuckled and walked over to his desk. "You're the only intern who hasn't taken their things," he said, sitting down. "Patricia expects you to come in tomorrow and sign in for them and don't worry, I reassured her that I wouldn't let you in the OR," he smiled, leaning back in his chair.

Meredith was staring confusedly at him now. "Am I or am I not assisting you in the OR?"

"You are, but I couldn't let her know that. Be aware though," he told her, looking seriously at her. "You're not allowed to touch anything in there, ask or talk to anyone because someone might notice you immediately."

"Am I allowed to breathe?" she asked in sarcastic curiosity.

Derek rolled his eyes, smiling. He took the chart that the nurse had left on his desk and flipped it open. He scrawled something in it quickly and closed it back up. "Are you ready to go?" he asked, smiling at Meredith.

"Yeah," Meredith answered, thoughtful. She hesitated to stand up as Derek came beside her chair.

Derek gently put his hand on her shoulder and leaned down to her. "Are you scared?" he asked her softly.

Meredith looked at his hand on her shoulder. His ring was still there. "Nobody has noticed it?" she asked, still looking at it.

"I don't think so," he said, taking his hand off her shoulder and looking at his ring. "At least not Richard or Preston," he added.

"Should we take them off?" Meredith asked, now playing with her own ring.

"We probably should," Derek said quietly. He came in front of Meredith and sat down on the desk, facing her. "If we still want to hide it from the others." He looked carefully at Meredith for her reaction to his subtle suggestion.

Meredith looked at him and sighed as she met his comforting smile. She looked at her ring again and took it off reluctantly. "Only for a while," she mumbled.

Derek grabbed her hand gently before she could take it off entirely. "I like mine and the Chief is not around at this hour," he said, smiling at her.

He felt her hand loosening in his grip. He released her hand and smiled as he saw her fixing the ring back on her finger.

Meredith avoided immediate eye contact with him and stood up, turning toward the door. "I have to go change," she murmured.

"We don't have time," Derek replied. "You should get changed in here and you can take your stuff to your locker later."

Meredith stopped in the middle of the office, still having her back turned on him, and smiled. She turned her head and looked at Derek over her shoulder, smiling. "You're obsessed."

"Obsessed with what?" Derek asked curiously.

Meredith continued to smile as she turned toward him. "You're obsessed with seeing me naked," Derek laughed at her statement. "I don't think we can make it throughout these six months."

"Whiney," Derek cough.

"Shut up," Meredith giggled.

Derek smiled genuinely at her. "I admit my obsession, but you must have one with me too," he grinned smugly at her.

"I don't," Meredith hissed and looked away childishly.

"Change into your scrubs because more time means less chance for that man to be saved," he urged her.

"You're not going to give me privacy?" she scowled as she saw he wasn't showing any intention of leaving.

Derek chuckled. "I can't even remember how many times I've seen you naked by now, so we should be shameless regarding each other's body."

"Derek," Meredith whimpered.

"I'll turn my back," he smiled wickedly, turning his back on Meredith.

"Don't peek," she hissed.

"I would leave you alone, you know, but I don't want you to get lost on your way to the OR," Derek said teasingly.

"You're offending my intelligence right now," Meredith frowned, unbuttoning her shirt.

"To be more entertaining," Derek said as he turned slowly towards her. "You should act dumb so that I can help you with that shirt." He winked, smiling wickedly as his eyes lingered on her chest.

"If you were smart enough, you would have known that you can do this some other time too," Meredith smiled and then turned her back on him.

**--**

Derek rubbed both hands against his face as he leaned his head to back, exhausted after a long but successful surgery. He looked to his left and smiled, opening his arm for Meredith to come join him on the couch.

Meredith nestled beside him. "You're good," she said quietly.

"I know," Derek looked at her, smiling smugly.

"You're arrogant, you know that?" Meredith scowled.

"I know," Derek chuckled, still cheerful after her statement.

"Ugh," Meredith growled, rolling her eyes.

"It's a surgeon thing," Derek stated defensively. "I'm sure your mother has at least a little arrogance."

"My mother is … almost as arrogant as you are," she smiled up at him.

Derek brushed her cheek lightly, smiling at her. "Do you want me to take you home now?"

"No," Meredith answered without hesitation.

"Then give me a suggestion of what I should do with you," he said. "I think we have to re-schedule our first date."

Meredith bit her lip, smiling sheepishly at him.

"You got me curious," Derek narrowed his eyes, amused.

"I have an obsession with you too," she giggled.

"I know," Derek grinned arrogantly.

"Stop that," Meredith frowned, but Derek continued to grin at her.

"You're obsessed with my arrogance, admit it," he smiled teasingly at her.

"That I hate the most about you." she threw her fist in his chest lightly. Derek laughed, catching her fist and holding it in his hand. "And I won't tell you," she pouted childishly.

"Ok," Derek shrugged. "I'm a smart guy so I'll find out myself."

"You're not that smart," Meredith giggled.

"I've just saved the guy, haven't I?" he pointed out. "Ok, now tell me what do you want to do?"

"I don't know," she shrugged.

Derek had a guess on Meredith's obsession. "Do you usually take the guy home at the end of your first date?" he asked and smiled when Meredith looked up at him, surprised. "Do you?" he asked her, arching his brows suggestively.

"That depends," she answered. Derek watched her, waiting. "If the first date goes well," she added. "Was this our first date?" she asked him as she saw him still waiting.

"We could consider it so," he suggested. "We're not a normal couple so we could have unusual dates."

"I guess we could," Meredith giggled.

"So?" Derek waited for her answer. "Was it a memorable first date?"

"Well…" Meredith looked slightly unpleased.

"Oh please," Derek growled. "I saved the guy. No one died."

Meredith stood up and held out her hand to him. "Let's go to your place."

Derek jumped up on his feet, taking her hand. "You're as obsessed with seeing me naked as me," he whispered in her ear, chuckling.

Meredith elbowed him hard, laughing, but she didn't deny it.


	12. Breakfast in bed

Derek already knew that he was going to have a bad day, even though he was still sleeping. Besides the minimal amount of sleep he got because of his night with Meredith, something else disturbed his sleep, kept shoving him in his legs.

Derek growled, frustrated, his face sunken into the pillow as he finally decided to wake up. He rubbed his face against the pillow and turned to look at Meredith, who was sleeping beside him, lying on her stomach and facing away. Then he saw the clock on the nightstand beside Meredith's side. It was a little passed 6 o'clock.

Derek rolled onto his back and rubbed his hands against his face to banish the sleep. Then he felt Meredith's leg kicking him again.

"Great," he groaned quietly. He rolled onto his side and shifted closer to Meredith.

He drew the blanket over her bare back, lingering as he reached her shoulder, gently caressing her soft skin. Despite the discomfort she had given him during the night, Derek couldn't help but smile at her image. He drew the blanket up over her shoulder as well, and leaned into her, brushing away the hair from her neck to kiss the line of her jaw.

Derek moved slowly to the edge of the bed and slid out slowly and quietly. He put on his boxers and walked outside in silence.

He crossed the large apartment he was sharing for the moment with Preston to go to the kitchen area.

Preston was sitting at the dinner table, drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper when Derek walked in.

"Morning," Derek saluted him sleepily.

"Good morning," Preston answered, smiling as he watched him heading to the cupboard. "An old friend is visiting?" he asked as he turned to look at the newspaper. He glanced and smiled to himself as he saw Derek looking surprised at him.

"Not really," Derek answered and turned to open the cupboard.

"Not really what? Not really an old friend or not really visiting?" Preston asked, now without looking away from the newspaper.

"Not really an old friend," Derek answered as he looked carefully inside the cupboard. "Where do you keep the tray?" he asked him.

Preston looked up at him and smiled. "Down in the cabinet on the upper shelf."

Derek looked down where Preston told him and took out the tray. He sat it on the counter and then looked back in the cupboard, taking two bowls and box of cereals.

"She is not a whore, is she?" Preston asked, suddenly disgusted.

"What?" Derek frowned, turning to look at him. "She is not a whore."

"That's great then." Preston smiled. "She must be special though," he added, his eyes locking the tray with breakfast that Derek was preparing.

"She is," Derek smiled.

"Do I know her?" he asked him.

"You might," Derek answered, pouring cereals in both bowls.

"Give me a hint," Preston asked, interested.

"I can't," Derek answered.

"Are you afraid that I might steal her?" Preston asked, smiling as he stood up and walked over to him.

"That's not possible," Derek chuckled smugly.

"What are you doing?" Preston asked with tone of reproach in his voice as he looked at Derek's tray. "Seriously, man," he laughed. "I had to turn on the music to cover your laughs and moans. She deserves better than a breakfast of Muesli. Besides, you don't serve a woman Muesli in bed." He continued to laugh teasingly.

"Mind your own business," Derek hissed and went to take the milk from the refrigerator.

When he looked back at his friend, Derek saw him removing the bowls from the tray. "What do you think you're doing?" he snapped.

"Saving your reputation," Preston answered simply, placing two plates on the tray. "Lucky for you I made enough breakfast this morning," he said, now taking two cups out of the cupboard.

"Muesli is healthy food," Derek retorted.

"I never said it wasn't," Preston answered. "I am all for healthy food. But you know it's not very nutritious and she needs nutrients to recover," he chuckled, smiling at Derek. "That is if you want to use her again tonight."

"Stop making sexual comments about her," Derek scowled.

Preston smiled reassuringly. "Just give her normal food," he said, pushing the tray towards Derek. "Trust me. Muesli… not romantic."

Derek rolled his eyes, taking the tray. He started setting it with forks and the food that Preston had cooked, adding a flower in a glass with water in the end.

Derek held the tray steady on his palm, while he opened the door with the other. He walked carefully inside and smiled as he looked up and saw Meredith, lying on the bed and smiling at him.

"Impressive," she giggled. She sat up and leaned her back against the headboard, waiting for her breakfast.

"Thanks," Derek chuckled, pushing the door closed with his leg. He carried the tray to the bed and placed it carefully on Meredith's lap.

"You know this is the second time I've ever had breakfast served in bed by a man… who isn't my father," she confessed, laughing.

"Really?" Derek laughed, surprised of her confession.

"Yeah," she smiled at him as she picked up the fork. "Just that the other man who did it, didn't do it romantically."

"How come?" Derek asked, curious.

"He was a fitness instructor so he had the bad idea of serving me Muesli," Meredith made a grimace, remembering that. She saw then, how Derek was staring at her, suspicious. "What?" she asked him.

Derek was trying to see if she had overheard his disagreement with Preston from earlier. The coincidence would have been too big other way.

"You heard, didn't you?" he asked her.

Meredith looked at him, puzzled. "What are you talking about?"

"You heard me and Preston talking," he said.

"No," Meredith answered sincerely. "I heard thunder outside and I watched the rain," she said, tilting her head to the window.

Derek looked out the window. It was another day of bad weather.

He watched the rain pouring down the window, stirring when Meredith said something. "What?" he asked her again.

"The breakfast is cold," she arched her brows teasingly.

"I didn't make it," Derek climbed up into the bed and sat down beside her. "My friend did it."

"So you are also friends with Preston," she said.

"You two know each other, don't you?" he asked her.

"Not really." Meredith shrugged, taking another bite of her omelet with cheese. "I met him a couple of times when we were kids," she said, bringing a bite to Derek.

Derek took the fork in his mouth and then took it from her hand. He stabbed the fork in her plate and brought another piece of breakfast to her mouth.

Once they were done with the breakfast, Derek took the tray from Meredith, leaving only their cups of coffee. He returned to bed and snuggled under the blanket beside Meredith.

Meredith lay down and put her head on his chest as his arms hugged her. "Shouldn't you hurry to work?" she asked him.

"No," he answered, running his fingers through her hair, breathing in her floral scent.

"Good," she smiled contentedly, closing her eyes and spoiling herself with his soft touch.

"Do you have any plans for your last day off?" he asked her.

Meredith opened her eyes and thought about it. She propped her chin on his chest, smiling cheekily at him.

"Are you going to share it with me?" he chuckled.

"I have to if I want to go on with this plan," she smiled.

"What's your naughty mind baking in there?" he laughed, knocking lightly in her head. Meredith bit her lip, smiling guilty. "It's ok to share it with your husband," he reassured her, amused.

"I could stop by the hospital," she mumbled innocently.

"Patricia is waiting for you today, so yes you could," Derek answered in a serious tone, guessing her intention. "Yesterday was an exception because it was our first date," he told her.

Meredith frowned, displeased.

"You're not playing fair, Meredith. You kept bugging me about how we shouldn't mix personal with professional and now you want to break that rule?"

Meredith sighed resignedly. No matter how anxious she was to be in the OR again, Meredith knew he was right. After all, she would soon start spending a lot of time in there. She put her head back down on his chest.

"Good girl," Derek patted her head teasingly, earning a slap over his stomach from Meredith. "Bad girl," he winced, laughing.

Meredith let out another sigh. "What's wrong now?" he asked her.

"Nothing," Meredith muttered.

"Are you sure?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she answered, mumbling.

"Ok," Derek stretched his arm then to take his watch from his nightstand. He watched it's hour and put it back, sighing. "I should start getting ready for work," he said.

Meredith stood up reluctantly. "Derek?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah," he looked at her, waiting.

"I think we should try," she muttered, looking down at her hands.

"Try what?" he asked, confused.

Meredith continued to stare at her hands in silence.

"Meredith," he said softly as he put a hand on her shoulder. "We should start feeling comfortable talking to each other."

Meredith looked at him and nodded slowly.

"So?" he waited.

Meredith bit her lip nervously, looking at him. "We should try living together," she muttered.

Derek was left speechless by her unexpected suggestion. He stared confusedly at her for a moment, making sure what he heard was true.

"Forget about it," Meredith said quickly, pushing the blanket off her, discouraged by his silence. "I shouldn't have suggested that," she muttered under her breath.

Derek grabbed her arm before she could climb out. "Meredith," he said softly, pulling her back to him. Meredith turned and looked at him. "I was the first one who suggested it, so I am all for it."

"Are you sure?" she asked him.

Derek smiled genuinely. "Does your sudden change of mind have something to do with your obsession with me?" he chuckled, lightening up her mood a little.

He succeeded as Meredith giggled. "That and breakfast in bed," she leaned in and kissed him on the lips. "Show me where the bathroom is," she held her hand out for him.

Derek took her hand and crawled to the other side of the bed. "Let me check first if Preston has left." He kissed her on the cheek and left the bedroom.

Meredith sat down at the edge of the bed, smiling while she touched her lips, and waited for him to come back and get her.

"All clear," Derek announced, sneaking his head in through the half-opened door.

Meredith jumped up, running naked to him. Derek chuckled wickedly as he wrapped his arm around her waist and scooped her up into his arms.

"There's a thing we haven't talked about," he said while he carried her to the bathroom.

"What about?" She asked him, hovering seductively over his ear.

Derek shivered at the sensation of her breath against his skin. "Birth control," he answered.

Meredith's teeth froze on his earlobe. She released it and looked up at him. "What about it?"

"Well, you don't want us to have kids now, do you?" he pointed out.

"No, of course not," she answered firmly.

"You're on birth control then, aren't you?" he asked.

No, she wasn't and that frightened her. "We… we use condoms," she stammered, anxiously waiting for confirmation.

"Oh Meredith," Derek groaned exasperatedly as he understood what she was saying. "Of course we use condoms, but condoms can pop or we can forget to use one. Meredith!" He growled as he stopped and put her back down on her feet.

"Don't turn into a victim," she hissed. "You're not the pregnant one here," she threw a fist into his chest and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door in his face.

"Great," Derek grumbled, unhappy.

The door flew open again and Meredith showed up nervous. "How long have we known each other?" she asked him.

Derek thought about it for a moment. "Four days, I think. Why?"

"Because I might have been in my unfertile period," Meredith grumbled, opening the door.

Derek sighed with relief. "This means I can come in too?"

"Only if you bring a condom with you!" Meredith shouted from inside.

"Right," Derek chuckled and turned back to his room.


	13. Damn rings

Two shiny white Chevrolets pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, seconds apart from each other.

Meredith was the first one who got out of one of the cars, nervously shutting the door and locking it as she stomped towards the entrance.

Derek got out of the other car, running after her. "You got to be kidding me," he shouted while he kept the pace with her.

Meredith stopped and turned to him, glaring.

"What's your problem?" Derek asked her, visibly irritated by her attitude.

"My problem is that the cars you bought practically scream 'we are married'!" she shouted.

Derek looked around them, checking if they had any audience. Luckily, the rain was pouring heavily and people were hurrying to get inside the hospital before getting soaked.

"You're overreacting, Meredith," he said, smiling.

Meredith folded her arms across her chest, still glaring at him. "You could have at least parked it further away," she grumbled.

"Silly Meredith," he chuckled again, wiping the rain off her cheek. "You're not going to stay here that long anyway so you don't have to worry about that. They won't have time to notice them."

Meredith rolled her eyes dramatically.

"You don't like my wedding present," he concluded.

"I do like it," she mumbled. "It's nice and practical, but why did you have to buy the same car for yourself?"

Derek smiled wickedly. "I thought it would be… cute."

Meredith rolled her eyes, but this time a smile crossed her lips. "You… I…," she stammered, not finding the right words.

Derek took her chin in his fingers and lifted her face to him. "I took the morning off to go with you and buy these cars, so please try and look cheerful." He leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. "Enjoy your wedding present and I look forward to seeing mine." He smiled and started walking towards the entrance, leaving Meredith dazed in the middle of the parking lot.

Meredith sighed and lifted her head towards the sky, letting the rain wash her face. "He's going to make this complicated," she muttered under her breath while playing with her ring.

Then she woke from her trance and realized that her clothes were soaking wet. She started running, crossing the parking lot to enter the hospital faster. Once she was inside, out of the rain, Meredith shook the rain off her clothes and ran her fingers through her hair a couple of times to rearrange it. She scanned the huge lobby, trying to see if Derek was still around, but he was long gone.

Relieved to know that no one would see them together or, even worse, catch them together, Meredith threw the keys to her brand new car into the pocket of her jacket and walked towards the elevators, in no particular hurry. She and Derek had talked about moving in together by the end of the day, so she had a plan about how she would spend the rest of her last day off.

The elevator dinged and the door opened at the floor where the Human Resources office was. She hadn't had enough time to get familiar with the hospital, so she carefully followed the signs towards the office she was looking for.

"HR," she read on one of those doors.

"May I help you?" a voice coming behind her made her start.

Meredith turned and saw an older woman, smiling politely at her.

"I…"

"You're Meredith Grey," the woman didn't let her say more. "I was expecting you to come and sign for your documents and the other things. Come inside," she said, opening the door and inviting her in.

Meredith followed her. Two desks, overloaded with folders were crowding the small room. The woman sneaked between the desks and looked through a folder she had set aside.

"Here," she said, handing her a few papers. "I need you to sign these and here," she said, now putting on the desk in front of Meredith something that looked like brochures. "You should have gotten these earlier, but you still have some time to look over them before tomorrow. You also have some internal rules in there."

Maybe she was too tired, maybe that woman was talking too fast or maybe both, Meredith felt she was getting a headache. She was probably tired, she thought; being a wife wasn't an easy job. She scrawled her signature on those papers and got the stack of brochures. "I got them all," she said quickly, hoping to get out of there faster.

"Oh and my name is Patricia," the woman hold out her hand. "I'm the Chief's secretary."

Fidgeting with her brochures and dazed by all of the information that Patricia had given her, Meredith didn't realize that she had held out her left hand.

Patricia smiled and shook her hand. "You're married," she observed as she glanced down at her hand and continued to hold it.

Meredith closed her eyes briefly, cursing herself for not taking that off before. As much as she wanted to keep her marriage a secret, the news about it was spreading quickly. She pulled her hand away from Patricia, smiling nervously.

Patricia looked incredulously at her. "I didn't know you were married. It doesn't show up in your record," she said.

"Newlywed," Meredith answered simply. "Is this…"

"Congratulations," Patricia said then, obviously delaying Meredith's departure.

"Thanks," Meredith smiled uncomfortably. "Is this all?" she asked her.

"Yes, but now I would like you to bring me some information about your spouse, a copy of your marriage license."

Meredith swallowed a lump. She could not believe that. "Do I … do I have to?" she blabbered.

"Well yes," Patricia answered as she looked at her suspiciously. "As a contact person in case of emergency," she explained, "and because you need to have a complete record."

Meredith felt like she was about to cry. "Ok," she muttered.

"Ok," Patricia continued to look suspiciously at her. Obviously, it was weird to see someone, especially a newlywed, panicked at the idea of sharing her marital status.

"Ok." Meredith smiled nervously. "I guess that would be all," she said and started making small steps backward.

"Yes," Patricia nodded. "Just one more question," she asked.

Meredith had turned her back on her already and groaned silently as Patricia stopped her. She turned and waited.

"Are you going to use your new name or you want to go by your maiden name?" Patricia asked her.

"Maiden name," Meredith answered promptly.

"If that's what you want," she muttered more to herself. "That's all for now. I'll walk you out," she smiled and opened the door for Meredith.

"I'll see you tomorrow then." Meredith nodded farewell and turned to walk away. As she did that, her feet froze in place and she was sure she was in hell.

Richard Webber was coming in their direction.

"Meredith," he greeted her with a kind smile and held out his hand.

Another groan of exasperation echoed in her head. "Chief Webber." She shook her head, this time making sure she shook the right hand.

"Did she sign all the papers?" he asked Patricia.

"Yes, sir," Patricia nodded. "I'm going back to work now. Oh and congratulations on your wedding again," she told Meredith from the doorway.

"Thanks," she smiled ironically. Now thanks to her, Dr. Webber had found out too.

"Wedding?" She swallowed hard as she heard the surprise from Webber's voice.

Her smile had frozen on her lips, so she showed it to him as well. "Yes," she nodded.

"I didn't know you were married," he muttered, now staring down at her left hand.

In that moment, Meredith was sure that her ring was possessed by a malefic power and she could even swear it had started burning her finger. However, that was just result of her panic.

"Newlywed," she gave the same answer she had given to Patricia.

"How newly?" he smiled curiously. "I talked to your mother yesterday and she hadn't mentioned a thing about it."

Meredith whimpered in her thought. "Well… um… she… it happened fast. She didn't have time to… you know…"

"Get used to the idea," he helped her with her stammer.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"I guess she is not a fan of her son-in-law, is she?" he smiled.

"She… she likes him," she lied, though her mother hadn't met Derek yet, at least not as son-in-law and she was almost positive that she wouldn't like him when she did meet him either. "She's just… feeling old now. You know… having a married daughter..."

"That doesn't sound like the Ellis I know," he said, surprised.

"Yeah well…" she sighed discreetly and looked away, hoping she would be out of the hospital faster. "I should go now."

"Sure. I guess I should congratulate you." He smiled.

Meredith smiled and shrugged nervously. She was staring get used to the congratulations; if only her parents would congratulate her as well.

"Congratulations." He patted her shoulder. "How's Thatcher feeling now that his little girl is a married woman?" he asked her conversationally.

'_Brilliant,'_ she answered to herself. "Excited," she answered to him.

"I look forward to meeting the lucky man then." The Chief smiled genuinely. He wasn't quite a family friend of the Greys' but he and Ellis had a long-term friendship.

'_I hope you don't,'_ she replied to herself again and just smiled as answer for him.

"Well, go home now and get some rest because the next 48 hours will be the hardest of your entire career as surgeon," he suggested. "And I'll be waiting for you tomorrow, early in the morning for a tour of the hospital, though I found out that you already gave yourself a tour last evening. I don't want to see that repeating," he added in a more serious tone.

"It won't," she said reassuringly. "Goodbye, Dr…"

"Chief, I was looking for you," a voice cut off Meredith's words.

She sighed as she heard Derek's voice behind her.

"Shepherd, what I can do for you?" he asked, looking over Meredith's shoulder.

She didn't turn to Derek, because she knew it was a matter of seconds anyway until he noticed her.

"Can you free OR 2? That one has all of the equipment I need for my surgery," Derek asked, not yet noticing Meredith's presence.

"Who has booked that OR?" he asked him.

"Dr. Hahn," Derek answered.

Dr. Webber let out an exasperated sigh. "I'll see what I can do," he said. "I assume you already met Dr. Grey." He tilted his head towards Meredith.

"Meredith," Derek said cheerfully, unconsciously using her first name instead of the professional.

"And you're friends already," Dr. Webber concluded, visibly displeased.

Meredith smiled faintly at him.

"I don't want you to favor any intern in particular like you did last evening," the Chief warned him.

"But I don't think I favored her in any way," Derek answered. "She just watched the surgery inside the OR."

"That's a favor," the Chief pointed out.

"I won't do it again, then," Derek assured him.

"And please use her last name," he also suggested. "I don't think you know her that well yet."

Derek chuckled at his words.

Dr. Webber raised his brows suspiciously and Meredith's eyes were shooting deadly glares towards Derek. Derek laughed nervously as he realized how inappropriate his reaction had been.

"I apologize," he smiled. "I tend to be very friendly," he chuckled.

"Don't be too friendly with our interns," Dr. Webber warned him. "And especially not with Dr. Grey, who is also a married woman now."

"Really?" Derek acted surprised. "He is one lucky man… and a very special one too," he grinned knowingly at Meredith.

"Actually, he is just a lame ass loser," Meredith returned the grin.

Derek frowned briefly at her words. "You can't be that smart then," he retorted.

"Dr. Shepherd," Dr. Webber snapped. "That's inappropriate and Dr. Grey's personal life should stay personal."

"You're right," Derek smiled apologetically and Meredith saw he was going to continue to tease her. "Congratulations, Dr. Grey. You probably deserve him."

"Derek!" Dr. Webber snapped, harsher.

"We deserve each other," Meredith retorted, smiling at him.

"Enough," Webber asked, exasperated by the taunting between Meredith and Derek. "You're going to use your new name at work or are you going by the maiden name?" he asked Meredith.

"Maiden name," Meredith answered. "The new last name is too… you don't want to share with the others a name like that." She smiled as she felt Derek's glare on her.

"You go home," Webber pointed to Meredith, "And you back to work," he said to Derek. "I don't want to see you wandering around the hospital again." He looked back at Meredith, warningly.

"I'll go straight home," Meredith reassured him.

"She's a married woman now. She needs to prove she is a good housewife," Derek smiled teasingly.

"Shut up," Meredith hissed.

"How well you know each other?" Dr. Webber asked them, finding it suspicious the way they were talking to each other, though they were supposed to have just met.

"Not that well," Meredith denied.

"Exactly," Derek approved her.

"Then you should revise your behavior," Dr. Webber said. He rolled his eyes and walked away.

"You really have a problem with my last name?" Derek reproached.

"Not here," she hissed and glanced around them.

Derek did the same and saw a couple of nurses peeking toward them, not very discreetly though. "Come in to my office," he motioned her.

As Derek opened the door for her, Meredith walked into his office and went to sit down on the couch. She put the brochures aside and cradled her head in her hands. Her taunting with Derek had been refreshing, but now her secret was probably hours away from being revealed to her parents since Dr. Webber knew about it now.

"What's wrong?" Derek asked her, coming to sit down beside her.

Meredith just shook her head. She looked at ring and started playing with it as she took it off. "This ring speaks too much. It's a tattletale," she muttered.

"I know," Derek sighed and leaned back into the couch. He took off his ring too and started playing with it.

"What happened to you? Does Webber know you are married?" she asked.

"No." He shook his head, watching his ring, thoughtful. "The nurses found out though," he said. "All of them," he chuckled.

Meredith bit her lip, hiding her smile. She remembered the nurses she had informed about his marital status. "Oh well", she shrugged discreetly.

"Is it bad?" she asked him.

"Not for you," he smiled at her.

"I'm sorry," she giggled.

"I'll survive," he laughed. He shifted closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "So the Chief knows," he muttered.

"Yeah," Meredith let out a sigh. "One of my mother's closest friends." She looked at him. "I have to tell them. They shouldn't find out from someone else."

"I will be there with you." He squeezed reassuringly her shoulder.

"I know." She smiled gratefully. That wasn't a very comforting thought, but she had to admit that having Derek's support was refreshing.

"We weren't very cautious either. I guess you can't keep a marriage secret," he concluded.

"We can't keep it secret," she corrected him.

"We're too in love," he laughed.

"With each other?" she asked.

"No," he smiled. "At least not yet," he added, caressing her cheek. "We're too in love with our rings."

"Damn rings," Meredith glared at hers.

"We should organize a dinner. We invite your parents, Adele and Richard and probably your cousin and Preston," he suggested.

"Yeah," she agreed halfheartedly. "How about your family?"

"I'll call my mom and tell her," he answered.

"I don't like this, Derek," she whimpered. The honeymoon had been perfect but what was coming afterward was unknown and scary for her.

"There's a thing I don't understand about you," Derek had started to say, but his pager went off. "Ugh I have to go," he groaned as he checked the message. "We'll talk more about this tonight, ok?"

"You have the address," she checked.

"I do." He smiled. He gently brushed her cheek and leaned in slowly, kissing her on the lips. "Be an exemplary wife and put the ring back on," Derek took her left hand and slid the ring back on her finger. After he did that, he put his back on. "Oh and…" he leaned to her ear, whispering. "Sexy lingerie wouldn't be bad for tonight."

"Go to work, Derek." She pushed him away, giggling.

"And less worries, ok?" He smiled as he smoothed her forehead with his finger. "You're starting to wrinkle prematurely."

"I'll see you tonight," she smiled.


	14. Still virgin

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Madison," Meredith smiled gratefully as the woman turned to Meredith after she had left the house.

"You're welcome, Ms. Grey and any time you need my help just give me a call," Mrs. Madison offered with a kind smile.

"I will, but please no word about this to my parents," Meredith asked.

"Don't worry." She smiled. "Have a good evening," she waved while she climbed down the stairs.

"Goodbye," Meredith said back and closed the door. She walked back into the living room and smiled contently. Using her parent's maid was a great idea. She had saved a lot of time and the whole house was clean now and ready for her and Derek to live in.

She had talked to Derek on the phone once that day and she had promised she would prepare dinner the night. She really had meant it when she said it, but now she wasn't really in the mood anymore. Derek should get home soon anyway, so she could pretend she had just started working on it as the house cleaning took her a lot of time.

Meredith walked into the old family kitchen, looking like new now and ready for use again. Everything was clean but Meredith had asked Mrs. Madison to leave everything in its place like her father had left it the last time he cooked in that kitchen. Thatcher Grey was also the family chef, actually enjoying doing it. Most of the things were still there since her parents bought all the stuff they needed for their new house. Meredith smiled as she saw the stereo on the counter. She remembered her father used to listen to classical music while he cooked. She walked over to the counter and opened the CD compartment. His CDs were some of the things her father took with him, so the CD compartment was empty.

Meredith was never a fan of classical music, but she would have loved to hear some of her father's music and remember the time they spent together in that room. Any kind of music would be great she thought and turned on the radio.

She giggled and turned the volume louder, listening and dancing to the rock music as she went to the cupboard and took out a pot.

She filled the pot with water and took it over to the stove, putting the water on to boil. That was a good start for pretending to be cooking.

Dancing, she went to the fridge and opened the door. She took out a bottle of red wine and put it on the counter. She had done a little shopping, enough for one evening. She poured some wine in a glass and hopped up on the counter, giggling the whole time as she listened to the song.

She noticed then her mobile phone vibrating and lighting up on the counter beside the sink. She jumped off and hurried to get it. Derek was calling, but before she could press the answer button, he hung up. Meredith saw four missed calls, all from Derek. The loud music made her not hear the rings.

Meredith turned the volume lower and walked out of the kitchen, dialing Derek's number.

"Meredith, I would have said I got lost if I didn't see your car parked in front of the house," Derek said as he answered. "I don't have a spare key and the music is too loud. Have you filled the divorce papers already?" he asked her, joking.

Meredith answered with a laugh and hurried to open the door for him. She found him sitting on the porch in front of her house. "You're very insistent so I am letting you inside this time," she said.

Derek stood up and walked over to her. "I appreciate your generosity." He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

"Come in," she said, smiling.

"So this is where little Meredith grew up and became…" He paused as he looked amusedly at her. "A little bigger Meredith."

"Rude," she scowled, but right away she answered with a smile at his little joke.

"I didn't know you like rock music. That's a thing we have in common," he stated.

"I am not a fan, but the song was good," she answered, uninterested with the topic.

"What's the name of the band?" he asked.

"Derek," Meredith whimpered. "Change the topic."

"Ugh, one thing we don't have in common," he groaned.

"Whatever," she replied, rolling at her eyes. "Do you want me to give you a tour of the house?" she asked.

"Sure. Where's our bedroom?" he asked her.

"Tired?" she asked, smiling.

"Exhausted," Derek laughed and took her hand.

"Nice place," he stated as Meredith led him upstairs.

"Thanks," she smiled at him. Meredith walked him then to the end of the hallway. She opened the door and invited him in. "Here it is."

Derek walked inside the bedroom and looked surprised.

"What is it?" she asked as she noticed his surprise. "If you don't like it, you can choose the couch downstairs."

"No," he shook his head. "Was this your parents' bedroom?" he asked her.

"No. This was my room," she frowned, suddenly displeased. "We're not going to use that one."

"Why?" He asked her straight.

"Would you have sex in your parents' bedroom?" she asked then.

"If they didn't live there anymore, yes," he answered genuinely.

"Well … I wouldn't," she shrugged and followed him inside.

"I am still surprised though," he smiled.

"And why is that?" she asked him.

"Because I was expecting to find something more… pink… and ribbons," he answered.

Meredith burst into laugh. "Do I look like a 'pink' girl?"

"No, but sometimes people do change once they grow up and from the bright and shiny pink, they get to the dark and twisty gray," Derek said as he continued to look at the things from Meredith's old room. A large bookcase, a desk and other usual furniture items were decorating her room, while the walls were painted in the baby blue color.

"I am not a dark and twisty person," she frowned at his words.

"Oh I was just saying," he smiled reassuringly. "I wasn't referring directly at you."

Derek went and sat down at the edge of the bed, trying the mattress. "How many special guys slept in it?" he asked her, unconsciously offending her.

"For your record, the bed is still a virgin," she grumbled, displeased, whilst she made a turn to walk out the bedroom.

Hearing the anger in her voice, Derek became aware of the inappropriate question he had asked. He quickly stood up and grabbed her by her wrist. "I am sorry," he said softly, his voice apologetic.

"Yeah," she muttered. "I know this is not your dream house, but I bet that this isn't the way you ever imagined getting married either." She looked at him, hurt.

Derek pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly. "I'm sorry," he repeated softly, kissing her on the forehead. "I'm sorry," he said again, now taking her face between his hands and looking into her eyes.

"That's all I could find for the moment," she said quietly, calmer after Derek's embrace. "My parents don't even know that I brought my husband to live with him in here. My parents don't even know I have a husband." She wrapped her arms around her and rested her head on his shoulder. "We are in deep shit right now, Derek."

"I know," he said, gently rubbing her back. "But it doesn't stink yet," he pointed out on a more optimistic note.

"Exactly," she replied. "Yet."

"Are you worried about what your parents will say?" He took her hands and led her to the bed.

Meredith lay on her back and Derek followed her, propping himself up on his elbow, tracing the line of her jaw with his finger.

"No." She looked at the ceiling as she spoke. "But I…" she sighed, not finding the right words to describe her feelings. Derek caressed her cheek and she answered his gesture with a smile. "I don't really care what my parents say about my marriage, but…" she let out another sigh. "The thing is … they will expect us to see us … married."

"But we are married," Derek pointed out.

"You don't understand," Meredith shifted on her side, propping on her elbow, same as Derek was. "You know… like a married couple."

Derek looked confused at her, narrowing his eyes. "You're right. I don't understand."

Meredith threw herself on her back again, sighing. "Doing marital things."

"Like sex?" Derek asked her.

"Not just that," Meredith answered.

"Then?"

Meredith shrugged.

"Meredith, if we tell them the real story of how we met and how we got married, then I can assure that no one is going to expect to see us like any other family. We won't have children anytime soon and they will let us figure out if we can make this marriage work," he explained. "I am sure they would at least be impressed by the fact that we're trying."

"Could we give them a different story?" she asked as if she hadn't stopped listened to him.

"Did you hear a word of what I just said?" Derek frowned at her lack of attention.

"I did and you're right, but could we?" she asked again.

"I don't know," he answered, thoughtful. "I guess we could."

Meredith sighed as she looked back at the ceiling. "My problem is… this thing will become serious once people find out about it."

"You're unbelievable," Derek groaned. He stood up at the edge of the bed, disapprovingly shaking his head.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"The fact that we are trying isn't a serious thing to you?" he asked reproachfully.

"It is," she answered quietly, caught off guard by Derek's sudden outburst.

"Maybe it isn't now. Maybe that's exactly what we need… people to know about us. Our honeymoon will be over once they find out. We have to stay serious if we want to make this work. This isn't a game, Meredith. It isn't just sex. We are not doing it for fun!"

"I know," Meredith retorted defensively.

"I don't think you do know." He shook his head. He stood up and started pacing around the room, now and then running his hands through his hair. Then he stopped and looked at her. "Tell me if you want to make this work," he demanded.

Meredith looked at him, fearful. She wasn't afraid of him and of his anger. She was afraid of the answer she was going to give him. "I do," she mumbled.

"Are you sure?" he asked her in the same serious tone as before.

Meredith was silent for a second. "I do," she answered. Then she saw the distrust was still there in his eyes. "I do," she repeated, louder and more convincingly this time.

Derek finally calmed down. He sighed and came to sit down beside her. Both looked at each other; she was scared and he was confused. Derek took her hand and wrapped his other arm around her, pulling her close to him. "We're going to do it our way. I don't know what expectations they will have, but we are going to do it our way."

"What does that mean?" she asked him, looking at him.

"That means we are going to follow our plan. We've started getting to know each other; we kind of skipped over the dating part; now we live together and we'll see what happens next."

Again, Meredith found it comforting to know Derek was on the same page as her. He was older than she was and therefore, more mature. She found that a positive thing for their marriage. She needed someone well grounded to help her understand and go through such an important step as marriage.

Slowly, a smile grew on her lips and she leaned in and kissed him softly. Derek cupped her face, deepening the kiss. "Still virgin, huh?" he asked her, chuckling. "The bed, I mean."

Meredith mounted his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Still virgin," she giggled and her lips brushed against his.

"What's for dinner?" he asked her.

"This," she answered and traced kisses along his cheek, down to his neck.

"Mmm, I like the menu," he moaned, his hands wandering over her back.

Meredith suddenly stopped and raised her head, looking at him, panicked.

"What is it?" he asked, slightly worried.

"I put water to boil," she muttered.

Derek briefly closed his eyes and groaned. "I guess we should be thankful if we still find the pot," he said.

Meredith quickly dismounted him and both ran downstairs.


	15. Rules

As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Meredith and Derek saw light reflecting on the floor.

"Stay here!" Derek said to Meredith and ran inside the kitchen. There, he found the pot burning on the stove. The fire wasn't big, but Derek hurried over to the sink, wet a cloth and then went to turn off the gases and take the pot from the stove. He quickly threw it under the water stream, instantly filling the kitchen with a sooty steam.

Meredith had anxiously waited outside the kitchen until she smelt the burning. "Oh crap," she muttered under her breath and a chill shiver of panic swept through her. She needed to know what was going on in there, so she walked inside and sighed with relief when she saw that Derek had extinguished whatever fire had set up. She covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve and hurried to open the back door and a window.

"Meredith, what are you doing here?" he shouted. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her outside. "Are you crazy? Besides the fact that you almost burned down the kitchen, you also what to get intoxicated?"

Meredith was staring blankly, reflecting on something else. "Thank God I didn't have the chance to activate the fire alarm," she muttered and looked like stunned at Derek.

Derek was perplexed to hear that. "You really are crazy. How can you be grateful for that? What if the fire had spread?"

"It wouldn't have." She frowned. "I wouldn't have stayed upstairs for long."

"Well, I am sorry for pointing this out, but things were heating up upstairs as well and I doubt that we would have come downstairs anytime soon," he said, rolling his eyes.

"I would have remembered," Meredith grumbled, displeased with the lack of faith he was showing.

"Sure you would have," Derek agreed sarcastically.

Meredith drew in a deep breath and walked to the couch, crashing down on it.

"Are still reflecting over how great it is that the fire alarm wasn't on?" Derek asked her bitterly as she continued to show the same blank stare.

Meredith looked up at him and shook her head. "The kitchen was in fire," she muttered.

Derek gave up on reproaching her. He saw that the fire incident had scared her as well. Derek walked to the couch and sat down beside her. "Only the pot was on fire," he said, squeezing her hand as comfort.

Meredith looked at him. "Crap," she muttered.

"Yeah," Derek chuckled and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into his arms. "What did we lose from the dinner menu?" he asked her.

Meredith had her head on his chest when he asked her that, so her face was out of his sight and he didn't see her smiling. "Spaghetti," she answered.

Derek suspiciously raised his eyebrows as he felt the amusement in her voice. "And what did you save?" he asked her.

Meredith bit her lip and shrugged.

"You didn't cook," he concluded dryly.

Meredith just shrugged.

Derek leaned his head over the couch, groaning. "I wasn't that hungry," he mumbled sarcastically.

"Hey," Meredith jumped, offended.

"Yeah?" Derek looked at her, waiting.

"I cleaned the whole house, which was very rude of you not to notice," she said in her defense.

"You know what?" Derek chuckled. "I am sorry. That was rude of me not to notice," he said as he gave a short look around him. "You must have been working all day to clean the whole place."

"I did some shopping as well," Meredith added.

"Really?" Derek chuckled with a fake dramatic voice.

"Shut up," she huffed and Derek knew she was lying. "I asked for professional help," she admitted.

Derek chuckled and kissed the top of her head. "You did the right thing. Actually we should hire a maid," he suggested. "We have enough money to hire a young girl as maid. You know… a girl we could help to make savings for college."

Meredith gasped, outraged, and smacked his arm.

"Jealous?" Derek laughed.

"No," she frowned and stood up quickly. "I'm glad you brought this up," she said and knelt beside the coffee table, fumbling through some papers. She pulled out one and returned to Derek. "I set up some rules."

"Rules?" Derek looked at her, confused.

"Yes. Rules for our living together," she said as she sat down beside him. "Rule no.1: I don't cook so don't ask me to cook."

"I agree with this rule." He nodded. "This isn't exactly our house so we can't afford to burn it down."

"Exactly. Rule no. 2: I won't do your laundry."

"Can I do yours?" he asked her teasingly.

"Don't touch my laundry," she glared. "Rule no. 3: The one who wakes up first in the morning makes the coffee before the other one is up."

"Plus the breakfast," Derek added. "See? Here's a contradiction between your rules…"

"I said coffee," Meredith cut off his explanation. "You can cook the breakfast only if you want to. Rule no. 4 now," she said as she continued to read from the paper. "No parties allowed unless I am previously informed."

"How about when you throw up a party? Shouldn't I be informed too?"

Meredith thought about it for a moment and then she shrugged genuinely. "Not really. This is my house," she said.

Derek disapprovingly shook his head.

"Rule no. 5: no hookers are allowed in here," she continued.

"Does this rule apply to you?" Derek asked, cutting in again.

"Of course it does," she rolled her eyes. "We are trying to make this work, aren't we?"

"We are, so this rule shouldn't be on your list."

Meredith looked down at her paper and then she shrugged. "Let's keep it as a safety."

"Ok," Derek smiled. "Was that the last one?" he asked.

"I still have a couple. Rule no. 6: If I ever get drunk, do not let me lay elsewhere. Take me to my bed."

"Funny one." Derek couldn't help but laugh as he heard that. Then, he suddenly became serious. "You're not an alcoholic, are you? I mean what happened in Vegas doesn't happen very often, right?"

"Of course not," Meredith snapped, offended.

"You're not married to another guy…" Derek hinted.

"Derek, I like to believe that I am not a whore and I really wish that you wouldn't see me as such," Meredith said, offense in her voice and a glare in her eyes.

The guilt washed over him as he realized how inappropriate his joke was. "I am sorry, Meredith."

"Yeah," she grumbled as she looked back down in her paper. "I've started getting used to it," she said sarcastically, as that was the second time that day when Derek made an inappropriate comment about her. She stayed quiet, not in the mood for reading anything.

"Whatever you are, I am too," Derek stated quietly. He knew apologies weren't enough now and what he just said was true. "Remind me of this whenever I say something offensive."

Meredith sighed discreetly. She didn't look at him, but she forgave him. She took a deep breath and continued reading her rules. "Rule no.7: don't stick your nose in my mother's stuff. Rule…"

"She still has her things here?" Derek cut her words off.

Meredith let out an exasperated sigh. "Rule no. 8: Stop commenting my rules."

"This isn't on your list," he said quickly. "You just made it up."

"Yes. It's a new rule. Stick with it!" she glared.

"It's not valid," Derek replied, teasing her.

"Derek!" Meredith snapped. Derek gave her a cheerful smile, which made her roll her eyes and smile. "You're not serious."

"We have to joke from time to time," Derek chuckled. "Especially when I am put in front of such strict rules. Not even my mother punished me so harshly." Derek had a note of humor in his voice as he said that.

"Rules are necessary for us. We don't know each other that well yet and we have to make this arrangement bearable," she explained.

"I know and you're right, but these rules you keep reading here are only for your own comfort. Don't you think I need rules to help me accommodate with all these?" he asked her.

"Well…" She hadn't thought about it but now that he pointed it out… "I guess you do."

"Thank you," Derek smiled.

"Tell me your rules," she said.

Derek patted his pockets and laughed. "I didn't do my homework for today, but I am smart enough to make it up right now," he chuckled. "We have to communicate," he mentioned his first rule.

"That's easy," Meredith noted it down.

"Whenever one of us is in trouble we should find help and support in each other," he continued. "I think these two rules are enough to make the marriage work. If we respect them, then we can hope for more than 6 months of marriage."

Meredith didn't write that rule down. She sighed as she put the paper aside. Meredith shifted closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. "That sounds difficult, Derek," she said quietly.

Derek raised his arm and wrapped it around her shoulder, resting his head against hers. "It's not. Just try," he said softly, kissing the top of her head. "Do you want to have pizza?"

Meredith looked up at him and smiled. "I'd love too."

Derek leaned in and kissed softly the tip of her nose. "I'll go order. Do have any preference?" he asked her as he stood up.

"No," she said and stood up as well.

While Derek picked up his phone, Meredith walked back into the kitchen. It was raining outside and evening was windy; the smoke was all gone, but the temperature felt low in there. She shivered, rubbing her arm to warm up and went to close the door and the window. She took a glass out of the cupboard and then poured some wine in it. She had left her glass on the counter when Derek called. She took hers as well and walked back into living room.

"Pizza should be here in about 15 minutes," Derek announced while he flipped his phone closed. He smiled as he saw the glass of wine and walked to her. "Thanks." He smiled and took his glass.

"What do you think your mother will say about our marriage?" Meredith asked him.

Both of them returned to their previous seats on the couch. Derek held up his arm and she snuggled beside him.

"I am not sure," he answered. The truth was that he didn't really think of what his mother would say and now that Meredith asked him that, he knew it was better to try and think.

"Will she hate me?" she asked him.

"No," he answered. "She doesn't judge people she has never met before."

Meredith repositioned herself in her seat and looked at him. "Let's act it out," she suggested.

Derek gave her a funny look. "The call?" he asked her.

"Yes. I'll be you and you'll be your mom," she said.

"Ok," Derek agreed, amused.

"Ok, but we are going to skip the blah-blah part," she said.

"I agree," he chuckled.

"Ok," Meredith took a deep breath before she formed the first line. "Mom, I have some news to tell you."

Derek found their acting amusing and couldn't help but laugh. "I'm right here listening, son," he replied to her line.

"Are you sitting comfortably?" she asked then.

"I … am," Derek tried to act confusedly as his mother would be. "Oh my Lord!" he gasped then, still acting.

"What is it?" Meredith smiled, but still playing Derek's role.

"You're going to become a father!" Derek exclaimed. "Who is she?"

Meredith giggled.

"Is she the nice girl you met at the airport when you got to Seattle?" he asked.

Meredith frowned. "Did you say anything to your mother about me?"

"No. I didn't talk to her that much. Actually, I haven't called her since the first day I got here," he answered. "It would have been too early to tell her about you. Now back to our acting."

Meredith relaxed a little. "Ok." She drew in the air and breathed out slowly. "I am not going to become a father," she said.

"Then what is it?" Derek asked in his mother's role.

Meredith paused for a moment. "I got married," she said.

Derek opened his mouth to reply but he was speechless, probably how his mother would be too. He tried to think of what his mother would say, but nothing came into his mind. "Who is she?" he finally found a proper question to ask.

"You don't know her," Meredith answered.

Derek took a second to think. "Is she a girl you met in Med School?" he asked.

"No," Meredith answered.

"Derek, I am old and I can't take the suspense so please tell," Derek said.

"She's a girl I met here in Seattle," Meredith replied.

"But you've only been in Seattle for a couple of days," was Derek's line.

Meredith stayed quiet, now waiting for Derek's mom presumed reaction.

Derek couldn't think of any other line. He briefly closed his eyes and let out a loud sigh. "I think I better wait for her answer," he said quietly as he looked down at his ring. "I am the last one left unmarried," he stopped as that sounded wrong. "I was the last one left unmarried," he corrected himself. "She wanted a wedding and she wanted me in a strong and healthy relationship with the love of my life."

Meredith lightly touched his shoulder as comfort. "And you ended up married to me," she muttered under her breath.

"You're not that bad," he admitted, smiling at her. "You're not bad at all actually." He pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. "She will want us to try and make it work. I am sure of it."

"Everything is crazy," she muttered. "I should be stressed because tomorrow I am going to start my career as a doctor instead of stressing myself with this marriage."

"It shouldn't be this way," he said, kissing her on the forehead. "Stress yourself with this marriage after your first 48 hours as doctor," he recommended. "Do you want to play Ellis's role… or Thatcher's?"

"I am not in the mood of hearing my mother's lines," she sighed. "Besides, you just said I shouldn't stress myself about it right now."

"I agree," he said and kissed her one more time on the forehead.

Meredith looked up at him, smiling. She reached up for his lips and kissed him. He answered her kiss, deepening it.

Derek put his glass down on the coffee table and then he took hers. Slowly he started pushing her down on her back and he lay down on top of her, their lips inseparable. Her fingers clutched in his hair and her knee arched between her thighs. Derek groaned loudly as he felt the pleasure growing.

Meredith froze at his groan. "Derek," she said quietly, even sounding worried.

Derek looked frustrated at her. "Am I doing something wrong?"

Meredith shook her head, but then she nodded and in the end, she shrugged. "We're still low on condoms," she stated.

Derek briefly closed his eyes, displeased. "We'll be careful but you really should get on the pill."

"I will… eventually," she said as she wrapped her leg around his hip, giggling.

Derek smiled, shaking his head. "You're going to get us into more trouble."

"By myself?" she asked him teasingly. "I don't think so."

"Crazy," Derek chuckled as he brushed the hair out of her face. His eyes wandered over her face and then he leaned down and kissed her.

"Derek," Meredith interrupted again. "I forgot to mention an important rule," she said, suddenly serious and struggling to push him off her.

Derek stood up, very frustrated. "Can't it wait?" he groaned.

"One more, that's it," she said and stood up as well. "I always sleep on the left side of the bed."

"Impossible." Derek shook his head. "I always sleep on the left side of the bed."

"You'll have to get used to the right side from now on." She shook her head too, refusing to give in.

"I've always slept on the left side," he said.

"Me too," she answered. "The only time I slept on the right side, I had horrible nightmares all night long."

"Meredith," Derek chuckled. "Have you noticed how many times in the last few days you have spent on the right side of the bed?"

Meredith just hissed.

"Besides, tonight we are both going to sleep in the middle of the bed," he said and slowly started pushing her back down on the couch, lying on top of her. "That isn't really a rule," he whispered, brushing his lips against hers. "You're just trying to torture me."

"Pizza!" Meredith announced when the doorbell rang. She pushed Derek away and laughed at his frustration.

Dazed, Derek looked into the pocket of his jacket after his wallet. He went to answer the door, pulled a few bills out of the wallet and handed them to the young boy who was holding two steamy boxes of pizza. Derek handed him the bills and grabbed the boxes off his hands. "Keep the change," he said and shut the door immediately.

"I took the glasses." Meredith was on her feet, holding their glasses of wine when Derek returned in living room.

"I'm right behind you," he said and both headed to the stairs.

They set aside the stress about their marriage, the stress about Meredith's fresh career as doctor, for the moment. For the moment, they were stressed about … the condom.

--

**N/A: Next, Meredith's first day of work! :)**


	16. One Rose and one Coffee

It was very early the next morning when Meredith walked trough the doors of the hospital. Her feet trailed towards the elevator, while she tried to hide her yawns behind the mug of hot coffee. She left the house before Derek was up and she took care to apply one of her rules: _"Coffee for Derek- hot and steamy. Meredith."_

The hospital hallways weren't very populated at that early hour and Meredith hoped that a moment of peace would help her wrap her mind around what was going to happen when she had to treat her first patient. Her lack of sleep last night wasn't due to her duties as a wife; the thought of how hard it would be to have the same exceptional career as her mother made her toss and turn most of the night.

Her tiredness was banished and her eyes snapped wide open when she entered the locker room and was met with the hustle of the other interns. Apparently, she wasn't the only one anxious to start work. Meredith made her way to the locker room and wasn't surprised to find that Lexie, Cristina and Izzie were also there.

"You're up early," Meredith said by way of a greeting.

"She's alive!" Cristina's exclamation made Meredith start. "I told you she's alive," she chuckled at Lexie.

Meredith rolled her eyes at her friend's joke. Then she noticed Lexie's uptight face as she looked at her. Lexie shut the door to her locker, after she had put her scrubs on, and stomped out of the locker room.

"What's her problem?" Meredith asked, caught off guard by Lexie's attitude.

As response, Cristina wriggled her ring finger. The panic washed over Meredith and she went to her. "She knows?" she asked in whisper.

"No. She wouldn't ignore you if she did," Cristina answered. "Your disappearance pissed her off."

Meredith let out a sigh and returned to her locker. She wasn't that worried about Lexie, knowing that at one point she would start talking to her again. Meredith opened her locker and tossed her bag inside, starting to undress.

"You're up early," Cristina pointed out as she came beside her locker. "Are you getting divorced already?"

Meredith ignored her friend's comment. "You're up early," she returned the sarcasm.

"Yeah well, I look forward to work with the cardio Gods," Cristina smirked. "So?" she waited for her question to receive an answer.

"The honeymoon is over," Meredith answered dryly.

"Already?" Cristina chuckled, with the same note of sarcasm in her tone.

"Yeah," Meredith answered. "Speaking of honeymoon and husband." She stopped undressing and leaned against her locker, facing Cristina. As she did that, she could read a panicked expression on her friend's face.

"You're so pregnant," Cristina muttered.

Meredith swallowed a lump as she heard her. That wasn't what she wanted to say, but might be true as well. "I am not," she muttered more to herself. "The chief knows too," she whispered.

"About that baby?" Cristina asked.

"What baby?" Meredith snapped. "There's no baby and stop saying the word baby! He knows about it," she whispered, showing her ring.

"Oh, that's not good," Cristina muttered.

"I know," she sighed, exasperated. "So now we decided we should tell our families."

"Oh," was all that Cristina could answer.

"Yeah," Meredith agreed with her reaction.

"When are you going to tell them?" Cristina asked.

Meredith didn't answer right away. She took out her scrub top and pulled it over her head, adjusting it over her body. "After my first 48-hour shift."

"That might be too late," Cristina said.

"It's not that late. My mom is leaving town for two days and she may not talk to him."

"But what if she does?"

Meredith shot her a glare. "Do you mind if I don't think about this right now?"

"Fine, whatever," she replied, slightly irritated. "How are you going to tell them?"

"We'll invite them to a dinner," Meredith answered.

"What time should I be there?" Cristina asked.

Meredith's head jerked to the side, her eyes shooting deadly glares. "You're not invited," she gritted through her teeth, holding in her anger.

Cristina sensed the stress in Meredith's voice and decided to drop the dinner topic. On the other hand, she found something else to tease Meredith with. "Who would have thought it would be this hard to be a Shepherd."

Meredith rolled her eyes, groaning exasperatedly, reaction that made Cristina snicker. "You're not capable of memorizing two names like Meredith and Derek?" Meredith groaned.

"Oh I am. I just love to see you rolling your eyes." Cristina smiled and turned her back on Meredith as she walked back to her locker.

Meredith couldn't help but rolling her eyes again. Cristina was probably the only person capable of annoying Meredith to death and still be her best friend.

"Hey, Mer!" Izzie's cheerful greeting made her suppress a groan.

She turned and flashed her friend a smile. "Hi," she said as she acted her role of friendly fellow. Meredith turned her back on them and looked for her scrub pants.

Of course, Izzie wouldn't let her go that easily. "This is George." She cleared her throat to have her attention again.

Meredith turned her head and smiled again, this time to the shy boy beside Izzie. "Hi, George."

"It's nice to meet you, Meredith," George answered, fidgeting his hands as if he wanted to shake hands with her, but Meredith was showing no intention of doing that.

"He's going to work with us," Izzie informed her.

That reminded Meredith that she hadn't found out yet who her resident was and also made her believe that she was probably the least prepared intern. As she turned to look to Cristina, Meredith heard her laugh quietly. Cristina stood up and came to her, smiling teasingly.

"You really don't know, do you?" She smiled with satisfaction.

Reading behind Cristina's smile, Meredith could guess the reason. She was going to work directly with Derek, which meant that she had Dr. Bailey as her resident.

"You have Dr. Bailey too?" she asked Izzie and George and both nodded.

Izzie leaned to her and whispered. "I heard he's called the Nazi."

"I thought Dr. Bailey was a woman," Meredith answered, confused. Was she really that lost in time and space?

"She is," Cristina grumbled. "Never listen to Barbie's fantasies," she added and grabbed Meredith's hand, pulling her away from Izzie's curious ears.

"This is going to turn bad if anyone finds out," Meredith muttered.

"You wanted to experience the life of a married woman," Cristina shrugged. "Let's take a tour," she said and started pushing Meredith out of the locker room.

"How about Lexie? Who's her resident?" Meredith asked her friend.

Cristina shrugged. "I think her name is Sydney Heron," she muttered, uninterested.

**--**

After the hospital tour and welcome speech, Chief Webber let the interns scatter and go find their residents, each group going in different directions. Meredith, together with Cristina, Izzie and George, left to meet their resident at the nurses' station.

"Great, the love boy joined us," Cristina grumbled as on their way to the nurses' station, Alex Karev joined them.

"You'll slice your wrist when you see me stealing all your best surgeries, Yang," Alex chuckled and walked past them, being the first one to meet Dr. Bailey, a short black woman with an imposing attitude. "Dr. Bailey," he announced cheerfully his presence there. "Hi, I am Dr. Karev, ready to offer my service." As his introduction ended, he stuck out his hand.

Meredith and the others smiled, anticipating already Dr. Bailey's answer only by reading her glare.

"I have 5 rules. Memorize them!" she said, addressing to all of them. "Rule number one- don't bother sucking up. I already hate you. That's not gonna change."

After just one rule, Alex stepped back, intimidated.

"Trauma protocol, phone list, pagers- nurses will page you," she continued, already flying past the nurses' counter and down the hall. Each intern hurried to take their things, struggling to keep pace with their resident. "You'll answer every page at a run- a run- that's rule number two! Your first shift starts now and lasts 48 hours. You're interns, grunts, nobodies, bottom of the surgical food chain. You run labs, write orders, work every second night until you drop and don't complain."

"Evil Spawn," Cristina hissed, glaring at Alex. "This is all your fault."

Dr. Bailey suddenly stopped, almost causing the interns to bump into her. She shot them a glare and picked up her tour of the hospital. "On call rooms!" she announced, entering in one of those. "Attendings hog them. Sleep when you can, where you can, which brings me to rule number three- If I'm sleeping, don't wake me up unless your patient is actually dying. Rule number four- the dying patient better not be dead when I get there. Not only would you have killed someone, you would have woken me for no good reason. We clear?" she stared at her interns, waiting.

All of them nodded in an instant and followed her outside again. "Um… Dr. Bailey?" Meredith called cautiously.

Dr. Bailey stopped, but apparently not listen to Meredith, as she stared ahead, glaring at something.

"You said five rules. That was only four," Meredith pointed out.

"Rule number five- don't do attendings," she said, still staring ahead as Derek was approaching them, carrying a wide smile on his lips.

"Good morning, Dr. Bailey, Doctors," he greeted them cheerfully, his smile lingering on Meredith.

Cristina stepped in front of the other and stuck out her hand. "Good morning, Derek," she smiled.

"Dr. Yang!" Dr. Bailey snapped at Cristina's inappropriate onset.

Not only had Dr. Bailey snapped at her, but also Meredith did it, mutely though by glaring. Cristina smirked as she took back her place beside Meredith.

"Good morning, Dr. Shepherd," Dr. Bailey answered dryly to Derek's greeting.

Though he was her boss, Derek had to admit that Dr. Bailey was an intimidating person, so as he got his answer to his greeting Derek nodded once and walked past them, his eyes meeting Meredith's in a glance.

"Now go play nice," Dr. Bailey told her interns. "Grey, go cover the clinic and Karev, follow her and the rest of you, come with me."

There, their directions took different paths, Meredith walking along with Alex towards the clinic. She just gave him a friendly smile and kept walking in silence. Meredith could still feel his eyes lingering on her. As she glanced at him, she caught him staring down her body.

"What're you doing?" she hissed.

Alex drew his eyes up to her and smirked. "You look very hot in scrubs."

Meredith stopped dead in her track, glaring at him. "The girl you date happens to be my cousin, so you better stop playing."

Alex kept his smug smile on his face. "Some fooling around doesn't count as date," he snickered and turned his back on her as he made his way down to the clinic. "I bet you're better than your cousin," he said and glanced back over his shoulder, smirking at her.

"You bastard," Meredith gritted her teeth, her fists trembling in anger. "You don't just fool around with decent girls, but you also hit on married women," she scolded as she tried to keep the pace with him.

His head turned then as he looked down at her left hand. Meredith read the displeasure in his eyes as he noticed her ring, but then he shrugged and walked ahead, mumbling. "Oh well."

Meredith stared after him, outraged. Alex had taken a considerable distance between him and her, so Derek felt the perfect moment to talk to her.

"Dr. Grey," he leaned in and whispered to her ear, causing her to start.

She smiled as she saw him and started walking slowly after Alex. "Dr. Shepherd," she answered.

"Thank you for the coffee," he said, following her.

"You're welcome," she giggled.

"But your note got me a little confused," he sped up his pace so that he could have a full sight of her face. "I didn't get the meaning of 'hot and steamy'. Was it the coffee or was it…" he leaned to her ear, whispering again. "Hot and steamy Meredith?"

"The coffee," Meredith laughed.

"That's a relief," he sighed, laughing. "I thought I had missed the hot and steamy Meredith."

"Derek, what you are doing?" she smiled. "Stop flirting with your intern. It is unprofessional and immoral. You're married."

Derek smiled widely and slowed his pace, adjusting it to hers. "What if the intern is my wife?" he asked. "Is it still considered unprofessional and immoral?"

"Just unprofessional," she admitted. "Derek, be serious," she groaned.

"I'm probably the most serious person in the world," he answered, teasing.

"Be the most serious person in the hospital too," she replied.

Derek just smiled. "So Dr. Bailey, huh? She seems… nice," he chuckled at his own words.

"She scared the crap out of you," Meredith laughed.

"Just a little," he shrugged as he smiled at her.

As they both looked ahead, they saw a tall, dark haired woman, coming towards them, or rather towards Derek, as she was carrying a wide smile on her face for Derek only and a cup of coffee in her hand.

"Good morning, Dr. Shepherd," she greeted when the distance between them decreased.

"Good morning… uh," Derek smiled awkwardly, not knowing her name.

"Rose." She stuck out her hand and Derek shook it politely. "That's ok," she giggled. "This is for you," she said, placing the cup of coffee in his hand. "I'll see you in the OR." Still smiling at him she walked past them.

Meredith had observed, surprised, that quick scene, her brows pulling into a questioning expression as she waited for Derek's explanation.

Derek was just as surprised as she was and shrugged, confused. "Friendly… I guess," he muttered.

"Lusty… I guess," Meredith retorted sarcastically. "Don't forget we have rules," she said and grabbed the coffee cup from his hand, walking away.

Though he knew how bad that scene had looked, Derek couldn't help but smile at Meredith's reaction. She was serious and that was a good sign.

"I'm a ruler!" he said louder so that she could hear him.

Meredith looked back at him and smiled. "Sure you are!"

"Where are you heading?" he asked her.

"Clinic!"

"Find something good and come find me!" he winked and headed in the opposite direction.

--

It was late that day and Meredith was about to finish her first 24 hours as doctor, when she got a message on her pager.

"911, down in the basement?" she read, confused. It was a 911 so she had to go answer the call.

As she got down in the basement, she found Derek sitting on a gurney and reading a chart. Meredith stopped for a moment before going to him and looked around her. Nothing looked like it needed a 911. Was she in the wrong basement?

Derek caught sight of Meredith and looked up from his chart, smiling at her. "You were fast," he said.

"You were the emergency?" she glared. Her day had been hectic enough, running through the whole hospital for labs and Derek found it appropriate to make her run a little bit more.

"My heart is aching," he whimpered, faking.

Meredith let out an exasperated sigh and trailed towards him. "You would save me the cost of a divorce," she muttered under her breath and hopped up on the gurney beside him.

"You're a doctor, you have to see what's wrong with me," Derek continued with his cheap acting.

Meredith rolled her eyes and looked at him. "What's the problem?"

"My heart aches for you," he said, his lips pulling up in the corners.

Meredith giggled and leaned exhaustedly her back against the wall. "You'll live."

"Now that you're here," he smiled.

Meredith giggled.

"How was it?" he asked her.

"Fast," she grumbled. "And not how I had expected it to be."

"No surgeries?" he asked.

"No surgery would be the right question," Meredith sighed. "Even George O'Malley had the chance to see the inside of an OR today."

"It wasn't so bad if you did well in the clinic with your patients," Derek tried soothing her.

"Derek, I am a surgeon… actually that's what I want to think that I am," she sighed again. "My feet hurt but not because I've stayed too much in the OR."

Derek put aside the chart and shifted at the edge of the gurney. He took Meredith's leg, placing it onto his lap, and took off her shoe. Gently he started rubbing her foot, which felt like heaven to Meredith. She closed her eyes and moaned softly.

"You should consider yourself lucky. Usually they make it hard for the interns in their first shift. You got the chance to get used to your position as a doctor," Derek explained. "You actually applied what you've been taught in med school and you helped people. If you were in the OR I doubt that anyone would have let you touch a scalpel."

Meredith opened her eyes as she listened to him and shrugged, not entirely pleased with his comforting words.

"You have plenty of time to play in the OR," he said then. "I am afraid that I might lose you soon when you'll prefer to cut people open all night long," he added in a more cheerful tone.

Meredith smiled and closed her eyes again. "Keep rubbing," she muttered.

Derek chuckled and took her other leg onto his lap, taking off her shoe and massaging that foot as well. As he continued massaging her feet, Derek saw she had drifted to sleep. His hand loosened from her foot and Meredith moaned in protest, so he continued helping her to relax.

"Slow night, Dr. Grey?" Bailey's voice echoed in the hallway's silence, making both Meredith and Derek stir.

Meredith pulled her knees to her chest, swallowing hard and Derek hopped off the gurney. "I have a patient to check on," he said.

"Sure you do," Dr. Bailey muttered sarcastically and took a step aside blocking his way. "You must be newlyweds or in matrimonial therapy whatever, but I don't want to see this again," she told them.

Meredith and Derek shared a concerned look.

"I'm very observant," she told them as she read their panic. "Especially when I suspect things that shouldn't happen. Identical rings, identical cars," she pointed out.

Meredith turned with a glare to Derek, as she still couldn't get over the fact that he had bought identical cars for them. She proved to him now why she had reasons not to like his idea.

"Be wise, Meredith. He won't be the one judged here," she said. "There's a patient with fever down in the clinic. Go see what you can do."

Meredith nodded and quickly put her shoes on and jumped off the gurney. Together with Derek, keeping an evident distance between them, she headed towards the elevators. When they were out of Bailey's sight, Meredith stopped and looked worryingly at Derek. "Do you think we're in love?" she asked him.

"What?" Derek chuckled, amused by her sudden question.

"Are we?" she insisted.

Derek stared at her, confused. "I don't know. Are you?"

Meredith hesitated briefly. "Are you?" she asked back.

"You answer first," Derek challenged.

Meredith sighed and grumbled. "Then how does everyone guess that we're married?"

Derek shrugged. "You must have been bragging," he chuckled.

Meredith rolled her eyes. "What could I possibly brag about?" she answered, smiling. "I have nothing interesting to brag about."

Derek narrowed his eyes, glaring, although he knew she was teasing him. "I'll ask that Nurse Rose to bring me the coffee every morning from now on," he threatened her.

"I wouldn't do it. It tastes horrible. I think she spits in it," Meredith retorted.

Derek laughed and stated before walking away. "I think we're in love."

Meredith couldn't stop from smiling as she watched him leaving. She didn't know if she was in love with him, but she knew she liked him… like a lot.


	17. The first blessing

Another day passed at Seattle Grace Hospital. Derek yawned as he raised his hand and checked the time. It was nearly 5 a.m. and Meredith's shift was ending, so he was heading to find her and give her a ride home.

He had just spotted her, laying on a gurney, at the end of the hallway when his phone rang. Derek groaned, exhausted, and hoped that nothing would keep him in the hospital for the next couple of hours. Derek's eyes widened in surprise as he saw his mother's phone number flashing on the screen. He wondered what could have happened if his mother was calling at such an early hour.

"Hi, mom," he said, answering the phone. "Is everything alright?"

"Hi, Derek," his mother answered and from her tone, she didn't sound concerned. "Everything is just fine. I called you at this hour because I wanted to make sure that I caught you when you were free. Are you getting ready for work?"

Derek yawned quietly. "Actually, I am getting ready to go home."

"Derek," his mother sighed disapprovingly.

"Mom, this is my job. You know that already,"

"I know, I know," Ella answered, displeased. "How are you, Derek? How is life in Seattle? We haven't talked much since you got there."

Derek ran his hand over his face and looked in Meredith's direction. She seemed to be sleeping, so he decided to change his track and enter a research room. Derek plopped down in a chair and took a deep breath. He knew this was probably the best time to tell his mother about Meredith and their marriage.

"Life is… good," he answered. "Actually I have some news to give you."

"It sounds like serious news," Ella observed from the tone of his voice.

"Well, it is serious. I mean… it's serious to me," he said. He was about to let the words out, but the first sound choked back in his throat.

"So?" His mother was waiting.

"I met a girl," Derek stated.

"That's good news, then," Ella answered. "It is good, isn't it?" she asked, now unsure.

"It is," Derek chuckled nervously. "She's great. Very nice. Her name is Meredith."

"Derek, why do I have the feeling that I'm about to re-live the moment when you were 15 and you introduced to me your lab partner?" Ella laughed.

Derek tried to laugh along with his mother, but his laugh died quickly. He cleared his throat and confessed. "We got married," he said, his voice loud and clear.

At the other end of the line was silence; complete silence, not even a breath. In that moment, the panic washed over him. "Mom?" he asked.

Then he heard her clearing her throat. "Yeah," she answered gruffly, proof that she could still feel the lump in her throat after Derek's confession. "You're married?" she asked calmly.

"Yes," he muttered.

"To Meredith."

"That's right. Mom, I know it's… a surprise," Derek tried to explain.

"A surprise? I don't know," Ella chuckled nervously. "I'd rather call it shocking."

"I know," he let out a sigh. "It's… hard to explain, but… we're married now and we… we're trying."

"Trying what?" she asked, still calm.

"We're trying to make this marriage work."

"Ok, this leads me to the next and most important question," she said. "Were you drunk when you took this step?"

Derek hesitated but then nodded his head. "Yes," he muttered.

"Just you or… both of you?" she asked then.

"Both of us," he answered.

Then another brief pause followed. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yes. Don't get the wrong impression of her, please," he said. "She's not that kind of person you think she is."

"It's a little difficult not to get the wrong impression of her, Derek," she stated. "I mean what kind of woman…"

"Mom," Derek cut off her words before she could say anything insulting about Meredith. "I know it's not… very conventional."

"That's immoral, Derek!" Ella snapped, for the first time nervous.

"Let's not exaggerate. We met, we talked and laughed together and then we got married. We didn't even have sex before marriage."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" she asked sarcastically.

"I know it's… not normal. It was a mistake… a huge mistake, but we do like each other and we want to try making the marriage work. We're giving it a try," he tried to explain and sound as convincing as possible. He really believed in what he said. "And please, if you are going to insult Meredith, then you are going to insult me too, because I'm partly at fault in this," he added.

"Well…" Ella seemed to be getting softer. "Either you're too decent or you really like her."

"Both," Derek answered.

Then he heard his mother sighing. "Derek, I don't know. When I called you, I was expecting to hear from you complain about the weather and praise Richard, but I surely didn't expect you to tell me that you're married," she admitted. "When did this happen?" she asked.

Derek briefly closed his eyes, sighing. "The day I got in Seattle. Actually, the next day."

"Had you met this girl before?" she asked, hopeful to hear a confirmation from him.

"No," he answered quietly. "We both arrived in Seattle in the same time and we… we got to know each other. We talked and then… and then we went on a short trip."

"Let me guess. To Vegas."

"Yes," he murmured.

"I won't make any decision about Meredith," Ella said then. "I'm coming to Seattle to meet her. I'm trying to wrap my mind around what you two are doing, so I am going to give her a chance. You seem to like her, so I assume she's a lovely person."

Derek was already shaking his head, terrified by the thought of having his mother in Seattle so soon. "Give us some time to settle down, mom," he said quickly, before she could come up with other plans.

"Derek, I wasn't there when my son got married. I have the right to come see him," Ella retorted, slightly irritated.

"And you do have the right. And you will meet Meredith, but please, mom," Derek tried to explain. "This is all new to us and we're trying to accommodate. We just moved in together, Meredith is a surgical intern now and she is stressed en…"

"She's an intern?" him mother interrupted him.

"Yes. She works at Seattle Grace too. Actually, she is the daughter of Ellis Grey. Do you remember her name? I told you about…"

"Derek," Ella cut off his explanation again. "She's just an intern?"

"Yes, but why do have to say it like it's a shameful thing?" Derek frowned.

"She's younger than you, Derek!" she pointed out.

"A couple of years," Derek replied quickly. "That's the last thing you should be worried about."

"What did Ellis Grey say about this? Is she happy to have you as son-in-law?" his mother asked, a shade of irony in her voice.

"We didn't tell her parents yet," Derek murmured.

"By the way, were you going to tell me about this any time soon?" Ella asked him reproachfully.

"Of course I was," Derek groaned. "I just didn't know who to do it, so you did good that you called me."

"Derek," she sighed, making his name sound with disappointment.

"I'm sorry," Derek said quietly.

"When can I come to Seattle?" she asked.

Befuddled by the unexpected call, Derek couldn't think straight. His thoughts were in a complete haze. "A few weeks," he said.

"Ok." Derek heard her sighing resignedly.

"Mom?" Derek said.

"Yes, Derek."

"Can we have your blessing?" he asked her.

There was brief moment of silence coming from Ella's side. "You have my blessing," she said and Derek could tell she even smiled.

"Thank you," he smiled back.

"Don't thank me. I'm only a mother and I don't think straight right now," she said. "Take care of you, son."

"So do you, mom," Derek said softly.

"Will you tell your sisters and friends?" she asked him.

"No. I'd rather not have them know about this. At least not Mark."

"I'll wait a few days and I will tell your sisters," she said.

"Ok," Derek smiled, grateful to have his mother's support; of course, not entirely, but it was enough for the moment.

"Go home and get some sleep. Goodbye, Derek,"

"Goodbye, mom," he answered and in that moment the connection died.

Derek rested his head over the chair, closing his eyes and trying to wrap his mind around the conversation he just had with his mother. He knew she was disappointed, but he also knew he could count on her support.

Now that his mother knew and soon his sisters would find out, Meredith's parents were next on the list. He had to admit that he was scared of the dinner he and Meredith had planned. He knew nothing about her parents and too less about Meredith's relationship with them.

Derek stood up and went out into the hall again. He looked towards the place he had seen Meredith earlier and smiled as he saw her still sleeping. There was no one from the medical staff around at that hour. An explosion at an apartment building had filled the E.R. that night and now, most of the doctors either left for home or hurried to catch an available on-call room. As he got beside the gurney she was lying on, Derek leaned down and slowly brushed a strand of hair out of her face. Meredith moaned sleepily at his touch.

His hands slid beneath her and picked her up slowly.

As she felt someone's arms around her body, Meredith started waking up. She smiled sleepily as she recognized Derek. She didn't care, or know, where they were and who could see them. She just put her head on his chest and let him carry her wherever he wanted.

Derek tried the first on-call room that came into his way and smiled to find it open. He pushed the door open with his leg and walked inside, flicking the light on with his elbow.

"Derek," Meredith protested.

"Sorry," he whispered and looked around. None else was occupying the room, so he shut the door and carried her to a bed. He lay her down slowly and then went to turn off the light and lock the door.

"What time is it?" her voice echoed through the darkness.

"Almost 5," he whispered as he returned to her bed. She shifted to the other side of the bed and made room for him to join her.

"I'm so tired," she muttered.

"I know," he lay down beside her, spooning her. He brushed her hair, exposing her neck, and kissed her softly. "We can sleep here for a few hours. I think I am too tired to drive us home."

"Why are you still here?" she asked.

Derek chuckled and kissed her neck again. "I didn't feel like going to an empty home."

"Stupid," she muttered.

"I know," he smiled.

The silence fell over them and Derek thought that Meredith had drifted back to sleep, but then he felt her chest throbbing.

"Meredith," he said, worried, standing up to look at her. The darkness hid very well her face, but as he hovered over her, he heard her crying. "What's wrong?" he asked her, caressing her cheek with the back of his hand.

"Nothing," she sniffed. "I'm just tired."

"Meredith, you're crying," he said softly, easily finding the tear in the corner of her eye.

"I'm not in the mood, Derek," she muttered and tried to roll onto her stomach.

His hand stopped her from moving, making her to face him. "I'm not asking you to have sex," Derek chuckled, trying to cheer her up.

But as answer to his attempt, a sob broke inside her chest.

"Meredith," Derek flipped her onto her back and cradled her face in his hands. "What's wrong? Talk to me about it."

Meredith hid her face in one of his hands and burst into tears. Derek pulled her into his arms, rubbing circles on her back, and waited for her to calm down or speak first.

"I can't…" she said, sobbing. "I can't do this," her words choked between hiccups.

"Shh," Derek pressed his lips against her temple.

He stood up and went to turn on the light, while Meredith rolled onto her stomach and clutched herself on a pillow. Derek poured her some water in a glass and brought it to the bed. He put it down and then turned Meredith so that he could look at her.

"Meredith, tell me what's wrong," he asked her, helping her up and handing her the water.

With her shaky hands, Meredith took a sip from the glass and continued sobbing. "I can't do this," said.

"You can't do what? The marriage thing?" he asked her softly.

"I can't," Meredith sobbed again. "I can't be a doctor. I… I am not cut out to be a surgeon."

Derek sighed discreetly, relieved to see that her panic attack wasn't cause of their marriage. He took the glass from her hands and put it down beside the bed and then he pulled her into his arms. "Don't be so harsh on yourself."

"I couldn't save anyone, Derek! My patients didn't even make it into the OR; I killed them!" she cried and clutched his scrubs.

Derek held her in his arms, whispering soothing words. "Meredith, the explosion was huge and had tragic consequences. Not all the patients who made it into the OR survived. Don't blame yourself for anything. You did what any other great surgeon would have done."

"You don't know that," she sniffed.

"I know that because I was there and I saw you. Besides, you weren't alone. You had a resident with you, an experienced doctor, so you did everything you could for your patients."

"I'll never be as good as my mother," she muttered, wiping her face. Slowly her sobs were calming down as well.

"But you could try be as good as me," Derek chuckled.

Meredith smiled and shook her head. "I want to be better than you."

Derek smiled and pulled her back into his arms, kissing the top of her head. "Let's get some sleep because we have a big dinner to prepare for tonight."

Meredith nodded and both lay down, snuggling in each other's arms.


	18. Meredith's husband

Meredith was lying on the couch, staring ahead blankly, when she heard the key twisting in the latch. She jumped to her feet, smoothing her clothes as she turned and watched the doorway, waiting.

Derek showed up, tossing his key on a table beside the wall. "Hey," he smiled as he noticed her presence and walked over to her. He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

In all this time, Meredith stayed stiffly on her feet and just smiled nervously when Derek kissed her.

Derek noticed her strange attitude, but he couldn't blame her. Her parents were due to come in less than half an hour and he was as nervous about it as she was.

"I'll go take a quick shower," he said, but as he glanced at her from the doorway, he saw her standing there, frozen. Derek took a deep breath and smiled encouragingly as he came back to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, letting her lean against his chest. "It's going to be fine," he murmured, pressing his lips against her head.

"That's easy for you to say," Meredith grumbled. She pulled back from his embrace and sat down on the couch, with Derek following her immediately. "I've had a rough couple of days," she muttered, staring down at her hands.

Derek put his hand on hers. "We both have," he assured her.

Meredith shook her head. "Mine were rougher than yours," she muttered.

Derek shook his head disapprovingly. "We both have because we both got married and we both have families and friends to tell about it. We both have jobs at the same hospital."

Meredith looked up at him and looked into his eyes, quiet for a moment. "I ordered in," she muttered.

Derek smiled and nodded. "Go change your clothes while I take a shower."

Meredith's eyes shot glares as she jerked her hands from him. "What's wrong with my clothes? Do I need a wedding dress to make the announcement?" she asked bitterly.

Derek chuckled and stood up. "No, but you can't wear pajamas either," his eyes drifting down to her body. "If you can call these pajamas," he muttered under his breath as he looked at her ratty Dartmouth blouse and her sweatpants.

Meredith folded her arms across her chest, glaring. "Don't tell me you have a problem with my wardrobe."

Derek couldn't help but chuckle and ask ironically, "What wardrobe?"

Meredith opened her mouth, ready to protest, heat of anger flushing her face. "You should have told me so before we got married," she sniffed and darted past him, out of the room.

Derek bit his lip as he watched her living, hardly holding back a laugh. "Meredith, I like your wardrobe, so you will please marry me?" he shouted after her and immediately burst into laugh.

"Shoot yourself!" Meredith shouted, her voice coming already from upstairs.

Derek suddenly stopped laughing. "That was harsh," he muttered under his breath and ran after her. "You're not going to ask for the divorce now, are you?"

--

"The table is set," Derek announced as he walked into the kitchen, where Meredith was sitting on the counter, browsing a magazine.

"Good," she mumbled, without looking at him.

"I just need to put the food into the microwave, but I will do it after the guests arrive," he said, leaning over the table to check the food.

"Uh-huh," Meredith mumbled again.

Derek just rolled his eyes. Meredith flinched as the doorbell rang, but continued to read, or rather stare at, her magazine. Derek didn't show any intention of going to answer the door as he thought that Meredith would do it, considering that it was her parents' house and her family. The doorbell rang again and Derek couldn't believe what Meredith was doing. She was ignoring the doorbell, letting him deal with the guests.

Derek cleared his throat for her attention. "Meredith, I think there's someone at the door," he said.

"Uh-huh," she muttered.

Derek briefly closed his eyes, suppressing a groan. "I'll go answer," he grumbled.

"Uh-huh," Meredith answered simply.

Derek stopped in the doorway and looked at her. "You can't ignore this for too long," he said and then went to open the door.

Getting in front of the door, Derek took a deep breath before he opened it. He knew it would be awkward when Meredith's family would see him answering the door. Because Meredith was too cowardly, someone had to do it and that someone was him.

As he opened the door, Derek smiled awkwardly at the young woman standing on the porch, watching him with curious eyes. "Hi," Derek said politely, trying to ignore the shock on her face. "You must be Lexie, Meredith's cousin," he said, inviting her inside the house.

Lexie nodded, dumbfounded, but her feet didn't move. She swallowed before she could make a sound. "Dr. Shepherd?" her voice trembled. Instinctively, she took a step backwards and looked at the wall beside the door, checking for the number.

Derek smiled and nodded. "Come on in," he said. "Meredith is in the kitchen," he added, giving her the confirmation that she hadn't gotten to the wrong house.

Lexie stared at him and nodded. Derek nodded too and Lexie nodded again.

Derek smiled nervously and took a step aside for her to walk inside. Lexie hesitated, but her feet finally trailed inside, her eyes dazing at him as she walked past him.

"Meredith invited you to dinner?" she couldn't help but ask him.

Derek smiled and nodded. "She's in the kitchen," he said, his head tilting towards its direction, although he knew Lexie was familiar with that house.

Lexie nodded, still staring at him. She shook her head as she broke the gaze and started walking to the kitchen. Her feet froze again for a brief moment as she glanced over her shoulder, back to Derek.

Derek closed his eyes and let out a sigh when Lexie was out of his sight. Very awkward, he thought. He wasn't going to deal with greeting Meredith's guests – though now they were his guests too, considering that he was Meredith's husband- and went in the dinning room, crashing in a chair.

Meredith glanced from the corner of her eyes when Lexie stepped into the kitchen. Neither of them said anything, but the air filled with unspoken questions.

"Hi," Lexie cleared her throat, finally breaking the silence. She took her jacket off and put it on the counter together with her purse, her eyes glancing at Meredith.

Meredith looked up at her. "Hi," and then her eyes fell back over the magazine.

"What's with this special dinner?" Lexie asked, trying to start a conversation.

Meredith shrugged. "Just a dinner."

Lexie rolled her eyes, now visibly irritated by the mystery regarding the dinner. "What happened?" she burst nervously.

Meredith looked up at her and just stared.

"What happened, Meredith?" Lexie snapped. "What's going on here? What's going on with you?"

"Nothing," Meredith answered quietly and her head fell back over the magazine.

"Nothing?" Lexie laughed bitterly. "Nothing? Nothing when you disappear for days and then you show up like nothing happened?"

Meredith refused to look up this time. She felt too guilty to face Lexie, the person who was more of a sister than a cousin to her.

"I thought we don't keep secrets from each other," her voice softened, but the disappointment was there.

"There's something," Meredith muttered, still not able to look at her. "You'll find out soon."

"What have you done?" Lexie's voice softened more now, sounding worried. As she met her cousin's refuse to talk to her, Lexie made a step towards her. "You know you can talk to me. I'll try to help as much as can, but you need to talk to me and let me know if something's…" her words died suddenly.

Meredith raised her head from her magazine as she noticed the change. She closed her eyes when she saw Lexie staring with a shocked expression at her ring.

"What the hell is that?" Lexie asked quietly, her eyes still gazing over the golden band from Meredith's finger. "You got married?" she shouted.

Meredith looked away and refused to say anything.

"Is that a wedding ring?" Lexie shouted, nervously taking another step towards her. Then, Lexie had a short moment of silence and the shock crept onto her face. "Dr. Shepherd," she muttered slowly, her torso turning partially towards the entrance. "He," she looked back at Meredith, slowly understanding the reason why Derek was there too. "You… he… he's your husband," she choked. Then she started talking to herself. "They said he was married to someone from our hospital. The cars," she looked at Meredith. "You are his wife. He's married to you."

Meredith didn't pay attention to her mutter. She was struggling now to find a reasonable explanation to give to her cousin and her parents.

"And you didn't tell me," Lexie continued, muttering. Then she burst nervously again. "How could you keep something like that from me?"

Derek clearing his throat from the doorway made Lexie stop, but not turning to face him, while Meredith continued to keep her face away from Lexie's reproachful eyes.

"Meredith, there's someone at the door," Derek said. He looked at the two women and the guilt washed over as he felt the strain between them. He cleared his throat again, but again, neither of them paid any attention to him. "Should I answer?" he asked.

"Yes, please," Meredith muttered.

Derek nodded and trailed reluctantly out of the kitchen. He paused before opening the door, taking a deep breath and preparing himself for whatever was about to come next. He opened the door to see Richard and Adele.

Same as Lexie, they were surprised to see Derek there. "Adele, Richard," he struggled to smile cheerfully and opened the door wider, inviting them inside.

"Derek," Adele smiled, curious to see him where she less expected.

"Hi," Derek leaned and gave Adele a kiss on the cheek. "Meredith is with her cousin in the kitchen," he said.

"I didn't know you were invited," Richard stated, looking at him suspiciously.

"Yeah," Derek chuckled nervously as he ran his hand through his hair and gestured them to follow him in the living room. "I was."

"That's strange," Richard muttered under his breath. "I must have misunderstood," he said, looking at Adele and Derek. "I thought that Ellis invited us to dinner and because Meredith told Patricia about it…. my mistake," he shrugged, looking convinced of his conclusion.

"Yeah," Derek muttered simply. He helped Adele take her coat off and took Richard's too.

"But why did she ask us to come here and not to their other house," Adele pointed out. "They don't live here anymore."

Richard gave her a puzzled look and shrugged.

"I heard that you had a short vacation," Adele hinted, looking at Derek.

Derek smiled and nodded. "Let's take a seat," he suggested as they walked in the living room.

"So?" Adele insisted to find out more about Derek's vacation. "You had just arrived in Seattle and the next day you were gone already."

"I needed a short vacation… and some sun," Derek answered simply, avoiding the details.

"So sudden? Had the rain scared you so much?" Adele asked, obviously suspicious.

Derek smiled at her and nodded. "We wanted…" he stopped as he realized his slip-up and cleared his throat, smiling at Adele – who was now more curious- "I uh… I wanted… I needed actually a few days off," Derek trailed off.

Adele nodded, but she knew he was still hiding something. She didn't want to know more as she knew how to respect other people's private life. Whatever he had done, she knew it had involved a woman.

"Is Meredith's husband here too?" Richard asked Derek.

Derek chuckled nervously and cleared his throat. His reaction made Richard and Adele raise their brows. "I don't… um… I don't think so. I mean, he's not here… I don't know," Derek stuttered. "I am sorry. I am very tired. I didn't get too much sleep these past two nights and it's started to wear me down," he said calmer, trying to justify his incoherence.

Adele and Richard just nodded.

In the meantime, Lexie was still waiting for an explanation from Meredith. "You're not going to talk to me about it at all?" Lexie asked, frustrated.

Meredith looked at her, glaring. "Is that your problem?" Meredith asked, raising her voice a little, as Lexie was getting on her nerves already. "That I didn't tell you that I got married? Wouldn't, 'Meredith what the hell happened to you' have sounded better?"

Her reaction didn't soften Lexie. Her cousin folded her arms against her chest and glared at Meredith. "Ok," she said in an ironical manner. "What the hell happened to you?"

Meredith took a deep breath and looked away. She hadn't found yet a better explanation. "You're about to find out," she grumbled.

Lexie shook her head, disapproving. "You either were drunk, or you did it because you wanted to make your internship easier."

As she heard that, Meredith turned her head and looked at Lexie, shocked. "I can't believe you just said that," she muttered.

"Meredith, I've seen you drunk before. The worst thing that could happen to you while you are drunk is to go home with a random man. Besides, Derek Shepherd is a doctor. What do you expect me to believe?"

Meredith jumped off the counter and shook her head, disappointed. "I thought you knew me better than that," she said quietly and pushed past her.

Meredith gasped as she hadn't noticed Derek standing in the doorway.

Derek put his hands on her shoulders, smiling comforting. Their voiced had been loud and Derek knew why they were arguing. "Richard and Adele are here," he said.

Meredith nodded and walked out with him.

"You invited the Chief too?" Lexie asked, confused.

Just Derek looked back at her and answered with a cold glare. He held his arm around Meredith's shoulders and pressed his lips against her head. "It's going to be fine," he whispered.

Meredith looked up with discouraged eyes and his arm fell off her shoulders as they walked in the living room.

"Meredith," Adele stood up, smiling, when she saw them in there. "You've grown so much," she chuckled.

Meredith smiled and went to give her a small hug. "Hello, Mrs. Webber."

"And you're a doctor now, just like your mother,"

"I am a doctor but not yet like my mother," Meredith smiled.

"You're just getting started," Adele answered. Then she saw Lexie coming in. "You must be Lexie," she smiled and went to give Lexie a hug as well.

"Why has your mother chosen to have the dinner here?" Richard asked Meredith, while Adele was asking Lexie questions about parents and sisters.

Derek looked up as he heard that question and his noticed right away Meredith's look asking for his help. He wished he could help her, but he didn't know how.

Meredith smiled nervously as she quickly looked for an answer. "Actually I made the invitations," she said, biting her lip. Her answer drew everyone's attention. "I… You're going to find out the reason soon," she said simply.

"Very mysterious," Adele pointed out and Richard agreed.

"Is your husband here?" Richard asked her.

Meredith swallowed a lump. How would she avoid the news until after the dinner?

"I say we should take it easy with all the questions," Derek cut in. "Whatever she has to say she will say when she thinks it's the right time. Let's not stress her more than she … already appears to be," he smiled and came by Meredith's side. "Do you need help in the kitchen?" he asked her, subtly suggesting she go with him.

Meredith nodded and both left to the kitchen. Derek had his arm around her waist as soon as they were out of the others' sight. Both listened as they got to the kitchen to the voices coming from the other room. Lexie was talking to Adele and Richard.

Meredith relaxed a little and looked for Derek's support when she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"It will be fine," he whispered, locking his arms around her body.

"It's awkward," she muttered.

"I know," he answered. He took her face between his hands and smiled at her. "You ask them to be patient and tell them to enjoy the dinner first," he suggested.

Meredith looked, worried. "I thought you were going to help me."

"And I will help you," he smiled, "You tell them that and when the time is right we're going to tell them the news."

"Ok," Meredith sighed and pulled back from his arms. "Lexie hates me already. She thinks the worst about me."

Derek smiled pitifully. "Maybe your parents are more reasonable."

Meredith half smiled. "My father maybe, but my mom… I don't think so. What we did isn't reasonable."

Derek took her hand and leaned down, kissing her softly. "If you feel like this is not going to work, we can end it," he said. "But as long as you're willing to give it a try, don't quit."

Meredith nodded slowly and reached up for his lips, kissing him.

"I love when you kiss me like this," Derek smiled, tucking a stray of hair behind her ear.

Meredith giggled and dropped a kiss on his lips again.

Then they heard the doorbell again.

"This time, you go answer the door," Derek smiled, letting his hands drop beside his torso.

Meredith took a deep breath and nodded. She walked out of the kitchen, soon followed by Derek – who went to wait in the living room with the rest of the guests.

--

Meredith greeted her parents- both surprised to find the special guests she had invited for dinner- and did her best to evade their curiosity, diverting the subject each time any of them asked her about the reason she called everyone there. It wasn't difficult to do that; all she needed to do was to bring up medical subjects. Though she showed the same grumpiness towards Meredith as earlier, Lexie complied and didn't say anything about the marriage topic.

Derek stayed beside Meredith at the table, across from her parents and from time to time, he gave her an encouraging squeeze under the table. The dinner went smoothly, talking about the girls' first shift as surgical interns, Ellis reassuring Meredith that the first 48 hours were always the hardest, including Derek in their talk as Ellis was curious to find out more about him.

Besides Thatcher and Adele, who stayed out of their talk, everyone seemed to have a pleasant time, absorbed by their common interest. Even Meredith felt more relaxed and forgot for the moment about the news she was going to give her family and friends. She felt a little confident as well and a little hope grew as she saw how much Ellis liked Derek, though she knew it was only professional admiration.

"The dinner was delicious, Meredith. Congratulations," Adele said politely, when most of the cheesecake was gone.

"Thank you, but I didn't prepare it," Meredith smiled.

"Well, kudos for choosing a good restaurant," Adele complimented her.

"The dinner is over and we still don't know why you invited us all here," Ellis said pointedly.

The calm she had felt until then vanished instantly as Ellis reminded her of the reason they were all there. Derek slid his hand under the table and squeezed her leg, encouraging her to go on. In that moment, Meredith's thoughts blocked, her words were stuck in her throat as if her brain had stopped functioning.

"So?" Ellis insisted.

Meredith just stared at her mother.

Derek sighed discreetly as he saw that. He knew Meredith wasn't going to tell them the news, so he had to do it. Derek took out his hand and placed it on the table, over Meredith's hand, giving it a light squeeze, under the suspicious stares of the others – who were staring at their hands now.

"Meredith and I," Derek started to say, calm and confident, but stopped quickly, searching for better words to say. No better words came into his mind at that point. There were no better words for it than… "Meredith and I got married."

Everyone's eyes flickered to Derek. All of them were starring at him, dumbfounded; just Lexie was less surprised to hear that; her curiosity was focused on Ellis and Thatcher's reaction.

Derek looked straight into their eyes as he waited for them to say something in return and just glanced once at Meredith to see her doing the same thing he was.

None of the guests knew how to respond to that. Ellis was the first one who tried to understand something. A small, nervous smile crept on her lips.

"Is this some kind of a joke?" she asked Derek and then looked at Meredith, trying to look and sound amused.

Meredith bit her lip and shook her head slowly. Then she put her left hand over Derek's, indicating for them to look at their rings.

Ellis laughed nervously and glanced at the rings, but she kept looking amused, as if she was refusing to believe anything else besides that being a joke.

Richard cleared his throat, staring down at the wedding rings- same as Adele and Thatcher. "I didn't know you two knew each other," he said, trying to sound matter-of-factly.

"We met recently," Derek answered simply, controlling his voice to sound calm though his heart was drumming like crazy against his chest and there were lumps down his throat.

"Meredith." Ellis turned to look at Meredith. "Would you please explain what is going on here?"

Meredith glanced at Derek and then let out a sigh and nodded. "We got married a few days ago," she answered.

Adele and Richard looked at each other, too surprised to react in any way, while Ellis's features turned uptight. Meredith knew there would be an outburst coming from her. She looked at her father, hoping he would give her some support; but Thatcher was staring blankly over Meredith's shoulder.

"Are you serious?" Ellis asked her, straight out.

"Yes," Meredith answered in the same manner and squeezed Derek's hand.

Ellis intertwined her fingers and propped her chin on them, calm but cold, looking at Meredith. "I want to hear everything."

Meredith looked down at her empty plate as she spoke. "We met … a while ago and then… we kind of drank together and…"

"First of all," Ellis interrupted her. "Speak fluently because you've been to school and then, it was a while ago or it was recently when you met? Because Dr. Shepherd…"

"You can call me Derek," Derek cut in, earning this way a glare from Ellis.

"Dr. Shepherd said recently and you said a while ago, which is not the same thing," Ellis continued.

"A while ago," Meredith lied.

"And you got drunk,"

"Yes," Meredith nodded.

"Both of you were drunk or just him?" Ellis asked her, suspecting Derek of being responsible for this.

"Both of us," Meredith raised her voice, not standing to see Derek being blamed for their marriage. She could blame him, but no one else was allowed to do it.

"And what's going to happen now? You have nothing to share, so the divorce should end quickly," Ellis said. Derek and Meredith looked at each other and then at Ellis, responded this way to her question. Meredith saw a shade of anger flushing her mother's cheeks, as she understood their answer. "You're not going to divorce," she said dryly.

"No," Meredith answered quietly.

"Why?" Ellis asked them, asking Meredith only.

"Because we want to try," Derek answered for her.

Ellis turned, a scowl in her eyes as she looked at Derek. "I wasn't talking to you," she spat.

"Are you blaming this on him?" Meredith snapped nervously at her mother.

"Yes, but I am also blaming you for being this stupid. Now tell me why you're not going to divorce?" Ellis asked her.

Meredith lowered the tone of her voice. "We kind of rushed with… this marriage, but we still want to try."

"Why?" Ellis asked her again.

Meredith stared, confused for a moment. "I just told you why," she mumbled.

"With your boss?" her mother asked her then. "Didn't you think you were going to make it through your internship by your own?"

That felt like a stab in Meredith's heart. "This has nothing to do with my career!"

"Really?" Ellis laughed sarcastically.

"Really," Meredith spat. "We didn't even know each other's jobs when we got married."

At Meredith's words, Derek winced in his head. That wasn't probably the best explanation to give her parents.

Meredith understood that too when she read the disappointment in her mother's eyes.

"I can't believe you could be this stupid," Ellis said quietly.

Meredith sighed and muttered under her breath, "Me neither."

"So what's going to happen now?" Ellis asked, again Meredith only.

At this point, Ellis was the only one involved into the talk with Meredith; the rest of the guests, Richard and Adele in particularly, were looking away, visibly uncomfortable with the family confronation.

"We're going to try," Meredith answered.

"Do you at least have feelings for each other?" her mother asked her.

Meredith swallowed a limp and nodded. "We do," she lied, though it wasn't completely a lie. She liked Derek and that could be considered as having some feelings for him.

"Where are you going to live?" Ellis asked.

"Here," Meredith answered.

Ellis shook her head. "I won't allow you to live in my house," she answered, straight.

"You don't live here anymore," Meredith replied.

"But this is still my house and as long as I don't agree with your decisions, you can't retort. This is my house and if I don't want to let you live in this house, then you won't," Ellis answered in a firm tone.

Meredith looked at her father for his help. She had somehow expected to that reaction from her mother, but she hadn't imagined she would go this far. No help seemed to come from her father as Thatcher was staring down at his hands, refusing to take part to their argument.

"Is this why you asked the key to this house?" Ellis asked her. "Because if so, then don't bother to unpack because I won't let you. I don't want to take part to whatever arrangement you two have."

"There's no arrangement here, Dr. Grey," Derek cut in.

"You, shut up!" Ellis yelled suddenly and jumped to her feet. "You can continue with your plan because she deserves everything that's going to happen to her," she continued.

"Don't accuse him of anything!" Meredith snapped at her mother.

"See?" Ellis laughed bitterly. "She deserves it."

"Maybe I do deserve whatever you think he has planned, but it's none of your business. I am a grown woman and I can face the consequences of my decisions."

"Grown woman?" Ellis smiled sarcastically. Then she shook her head and pushed the chair behind. "Let's go, Thatcher!" she said and her husband complied instantly. "Lexie, are you coming with us or do you agree with their decision?" she asked Lexie then.

"I'm coming," Lexie nodded and stood up from the table and everyone else followed.

Ellis stopped in the doorway and turned to look at Meredith. "You have no idea how disappointed I am, Meredith."

Meredith felt her eyes watering. "How about you, Dad?" she asked her father. "What do you think about all these?"

"He's disappointed as well, Meredith," Ellis answered before he could even turn and look at his daughter.

Meredith didn't tear her eyes from her father and waited for him to say something. She took a few steps towards him, reaching him, and looked into his eyes. She saw the conflict in his eyes and hoped he would somehow support her; but Thatcher looked away, unable to bear her stare.

"You can't," Meredith laughed, the tears streaming down her cheeks now. "You'll never have the guts to say what you think," she said disappointedly. "And you call yourself a father."

Out of nowhere, a strong slap against her cheek knocked her out for a split second.

"Mr. Grey!" Derek had his arm around Meredith's waist, hardly controlling himself not to hit him back.

"Let's go," Ellis snapped and pushed her husband towards the door, who complied without even glancing back at the house.

Derek pulled Meredith into his arms, who was sobbing against his chest now, and watched them leaving.

"I've never been this humiliated in my life," they heard Ellis grumbling outside on the porch.

"We'll talk about this tomorrow," Richard told Derek as he and Adele headed towards the door as well.

As the door closed behind the guests, Meredith ran off Derek's arms and went upstairs, into their bedroom. Derek hurried after her, finding her crying in the middle of the bed.

"Meredith," he said softly as he came to lay down behind her.

"Please leave me alone," Meredith said quietly.

"I am here for you, Mer," Derek tried soothing her.

Meredith nodded. "Please leave me alone now," she pleaded him, her voice broke by the sobs.

Derek sighed and decided to give her some time alone. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek before he stood up. "I'm downstairs if you need me," he said from the doorway and waited for a confirmation from her. Meredith didn't say anything and just kept on crying.

Derek agreed she needed to be alone, though he felt directly responsible for the conflict between her and her parents. If he had been more responsible, they wouldn't have ended up married and Meredith wouldn't be crying because of her father's slap. Though the decision belonged to both of them, he knew he should have known better.

He was in the kitchen, washing the dishes, when he heard Meredith walking in. Derek put the plate down in the sink and wiped his hands as he saw her standing in the doorway. She wasn't crying anymore, but her eyes were blood-shot.

"I don't want to stay in this house anymore. Can we check in to a hotel?" she asked him.

Derek nodded. "I am almost done here."

"I'll pack some of our stuff," she told him. "We'll take the rest tomorrow."

"Ok," Derek agreed.

Meredith returned upstairs, ready to move out of the house and prove her parents that her marriage was going to last long enough.


	19. Tiny ineffectual fists

"Oww," Meredith whimpered sleepily as something nudged her between her ribs. She stood upright, instinctively rubbing her waist. Sleeping on a bench was never comfortable. "Hey," she answered to Cristina's wake up call.

"You didn't go home last night?" Cristina asked her, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. "You didn't go home the other night either," she added before Meredith could answer.

Meredith glanced at her and then looked away, unable to face with Cristina's intense stare. "I stayed until late last night and I couldn't drive back home." She glanced at Cristina again, only to see the distrust in her eyes.

"Ok," Cristina sighed loudly and sat down beside her. "I am your friend so now I am listening."

Meredith shrugged. "What do you want to hear?"

"I want to know what's going with you," she said, in a soft tone that she rarely used. "You've been avoiding us for the last two weeks, since the dinner you had with your parents."

"I've been busy," Meredith muttered and cradled her head in her hands.

"Where do you live now?" Cristina asked.

Meredith shrugged, her head still in her hands. "In a place."

"In a place? Under the bridge is also a place. Under which bridge do you live now?" Cristina insisted.

"Cristina," Meredith whimpered and looked at her. "It's a place."

"Mansion, apartment, cottage, tent? Where exactly is this place?" her friend wasn't going to let her get off easily.

"Neither," Meredith muttered and glanced from the corner of her eyes to see Cristina's reaction.

Cristina was staring at her, confused. "Wow," she breathed out. "I was expecting to hear that you live in a mansion."

Meredith was ready to share her pain with her best friend. She looked around her, making sure that none would hear her. It was still early in the morning, so the locker room was empty. She took a deep breath and exhaled. "It's a place about 10 minutes outside Seattle. It's beautiful," she said and stopped there.

"A place?" Cristina asked and Meredith nodded from her head. "Meredith, tell me you have a roof over your head."

Meredith bit her lip and glanced at Cristina.

"Where the hell did he take you to live?" Cristina asked anxiously.

"Well… it's not quit a roof," Meredith muttered. "It's more like a …" she coughed and cleared her throat. "Hood," she muttered, barely audible.

"Tell me it's at least a trailer and you don't live in your car," Cristina had a mixture of shock and amusement on her face.

"It's a trailer," Meredith groaned.

Suddenly the room filled with noise and Cristina couldn't get a word in edgewise to comment on what Meredith had told her.

"She thinks the worst of me," Meredith said when Lexie walked past them and didn't even look at her.

"She's just jealous," Cristina shrugged. "She'll get over it."

"Why is it taking her so long?" Meredith groaned. "I mean she's seen how Webber decides to assist on Derek's surgeries each time I am his intern."

"Yeah, the Chief looks like he's on the warpath with you two. Oh and speaking of that," Cristina turned to Meredith. "Tell your hubby to tell the Chief that he and I are not friends."

"What are you talking about?" Meredith asked, confused.

"He called me into his office yesterday. Apparently I am too friendly with Derek," Cristina said, rolling her eyes at how stupid that presumption was.

"Then stop making jokes about his hair and stop calling him Derek each time you meet him in the hallway," Meredith shrugged.

"That doesn't mean that I like him," Cristina rolled her eyes. "Stupid people," she grumbled.

Their chat was interrupted again when Dr. Bailey walked inside, looking for her interns. "Grey, you're going to take care of your post-op patients today and Yang you're with Dr. Hahn."

"Dr. Hahn?" Cristina jumped to her feet, looking panicked. "Uh… I think Dr. Burke said I would be assisting him today."

Dr. Bailey folded her arms across her chest and raised a brow as she stared at Cristina.

Cristina cleared her throat and looked away, slightly intimidated by Dr. Bailey's intimidating posture.

"Is Dr. Hahn not good enough for you or do you think you can make your choices here?" Dr. Bailey asked her acidly.

"Dr. Hahn is perfect, Dr. Bailey," Cristina complied without any other protest.

"Good, now back to the rest of the suck ups. Where are Stevens and Karev?" Bailey asked, looking around her.

Cristina shrugged, clueless. "She didn't sleep at home last night."

"You two go to work and send the others to find me after they finish whatever they're doing now," Bailey asked.

Both, Meredith and Cristina glanced discreetly to Lexie. Judging by the pain on her face, they knew she had overheard Bailey's comment. Meredith sighed. She would have comforted her if she hadn't been so bitchy lately.

"Let's go," Meredith grabbed Cristina's elbow and started pushing her towards the door.

"So…" Cristina smiled as they walked out of the locker room. "In a trailer, huh?"

Meredith sighed. "I hate that place."

"Why?" her friend asked her.

"Why do I hate that place?"

"No. Why do you live in a trailer?" Cristina asked.

Meredith whimpered quietly. "My fault."

"I want to see it,"

Meredith just shrugged. "I mean the place is wonderful. You should see the view and the lake. But…" she cringed as the picture of her new home showed up in her head. "It's. So. Small. The bathroom… oh excuse me… you can't actually call that a bathroom. That would be an insult to a bathroom," she trailed off. "It's a shower cabin; a tiny, little, squashing cabin. You can't even have sex in that thing. We did once and my legs…" she cringed again. "It killed all my muscles."

Someone cleared her throat behind them and made Meredith freeze. They slowly turned and saw Dr. Bailey staring at them. "Nice fantasies," she smiled sarcastically and walked past them.

Meredith stayed like frozen, staring at the place where Bailey had been.

Cristina chuckled at first, but then she burst into laugh. Meredith turned and glared at her. "Sorry. Go on," she smiled, barely containing her laughter. "So you don't like it because … you can't have sex in the bathroom."

"It's not just about that," Meredith frowned. "It's a trailer. A big car on wheels."

"Oh so it gets unstable each time you have sex," Cristina interrupted her.

Meredith rolled her eyes and started walking again. "That place is not for living. Two people inside that trailer are already too much. It doesn't even have a closet…"

"Luckily your suitcases are still traveling," Cristina cut in sarcastically.

Meredith sighed. "Yeah. They must be on vacation in Hawaii."

"Did you talk to him about this? Did you tell him you don't like living there?" Cristina asked.

"No," Meredith answered quietly.

"Ok. Why not?"

Meredith sighed and glanced at Cristina, biting her lip. "Because he likes that place too much."

Cristina stopped for a moment to stare at Meredith. "Are you already in the I-love-you-oh-no-I-love-you-more phase?"

"No," Meredith giggled.

"You're getting closer to it then," Cristina said and picked up the pace again.

Walking together along the hallway, both stopped dead in their tracks when they saw a nurse coming up to Derek, who was reading the OR board. They watched how the nurse, the same one Meredith knew already as Derek's coffee provider, handed him a cup of coffee. Derek looked slightly uncomfortable with her gesture but took the coffee and thanked to her.

"And you two are still married," Cristina said slowly, both of them still staring at Derek.

"Yeah," Meredith sighed. She closed her eyes and looked away. "Bitch," she muttered under her breath.

"I think I will go," Cristina said, but Meredith grabbed her arm before she could get too far.

"Hold on a second. What was that all about in the locker room with you not wanting to work with Hahn?" Meredith asked suspiciously.

Cristina looked away, acting innocent. "Nothing," she answered, but unconvincing. "I just think that Burke is better than Hahn."

"In bed?' Meredith raised her brow suspiciously. "Because we all know that there's a tight competition between those two. They're both brilliant surgeons."

"Forget about it," Cristina answered calmly and jerked her arm from Meredith's grip. "Go take care of your husband."

Her suspicions were half-confirmed now. Meredith sighed and turned to see Derek now standing alone in front of the OR board. She walked to him and as she had done two weeks ago when Nurse Rose offered him the first coffee, she took the cup off his hand.

"Sorry about that," Derek smiled apologetically.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Meredith snapped.

Derek looked around them, checking the audience they had. "This is not the place. Come with me," he said and walked ahead, leading their way to his office.

He closed the door and turned to see Meredith throwing the cup of coffee into the bin. He smiled, watching her. "It doesn't mean anything," he said.

"To you or to her?" she asked him back.

Derek sighed. He knew she was right. He shouldn't have accepted the coffee.

"Derek," Meredith sighed and took a seat on the couch. "What are we doing here?"

Derek came and sat down beside her, taking her hand.

"You don't buy coffee to another woman and you don't accept coffee from another woman. Unless she's your sister."

"You know this is not exactly a rule. Married man can have woman friends," Derek answered.

"Not if their wives are jealous," Meredith smiled sarcastically. "Not that I would be… jealous," she added quickly as she saw the grin on his face. "I mean… I am a jealous person. I get jealous, but I uh… am not a jealous wife. I am a wife and I am jealous, but I am not a jealous wife."

"That was the sweetest ramble I ever heard," Derek chuckled and cupped her face, pressing a strong kiss against her lips.

Meredith had a huge smile on her lips when Derek pulled back. She looked away, embarrassed. "You know people can see inside your office," she said, clearing her throat.

"Sorry, but that was adorable," Derek laughed. "I have nothing to do with that nurse."

"Rose," Meredith interrupted him. "Her name is Rose," she added when Derek looked at her, confused.

"Oh," Derek nodded. "I don't even like her. She has a weird face and creepy smile. She just tries to be friendly."

"Derek, she hits on you," Meredith pointed out the obvious.

Derek stared at her, looking surprises. "She does?"

Meredith groaned and rolled her eyes. "Nice try," but as she looked at him again and saw the same confusion in his eyes, she knew he was being honest. He had no clue that Rose was hitting on him. "You're so naïve," she frowned, but then her face lit up. "I think I like you naïve."

"I will talk to her and ask her to stop with the coffee; although she brought me coffee four times," Derek said.

Meredith gasped as she heard that. "Four times? This wasn't the second time?"

Derek just smiled nervously.

"Don't worry," she frowned. "I will take care of her. Now I have to get ready for rounds," she said and stood up.

"I will see you in a few minutes, my jealous wife," Derek chuckled teasingly.

Meredith stopped in the doorway, smiling at him, and said. "Beware of a jealous wife,"

"Ouch," Derek winced, smiling.

"That's right," she giggled.

"You and your tiny ineffectual fists," Derek laughed.

--

Later that day, while she was returning from the laboratory, Meredith saw Nurse Rose in front of the OR board again. She smiled to herself as Rose was alone there this time and walked over to the board. Meredith pretended to be reading the board and then let out a loud sigh and had Rose attention. "I'd kill to have someone like Shepherd."

"Tell me about," Rose giggled.

"Yeah," Meredith smiled at her and then looked back at the board. "It's too bad that men like him are already happily married."

Meredith peaked out of the corner of her eyes and saw Rose looking around them and taking a step closer to her. "I heard that things aren't going so well between him and his wife. Do you have any idea who his wife is, by the way?"

Meredith smiled to herself. "I know she works for Mercy West and I don't know who told you that his marriage was on rocks but I can tell you for sure that it's not."

"How do you know that?" Rose asked, interested.

"A good friend of mine works at Mercy West. She's their neighbor… if you know what I mean," Meredith smirked and hardly fought back a laugh when she saw Rose turning red. "Oh and apparently, his wife is pregnant."

"Oh," Rose said quietly, now staring dumbfounded at the board.

"I know," Meredith sighed, trying to sound disappointed.

"Life sucks," Rose sighed too, but she did it with real disappointment.

"It sure does," Meredith muttered under her breath as Rose walked away. "Slut," she muttered and walked in the opposite direction, smiling with satisfaction.

**--**

As Derek ended his shift that day, he told Meredith he would go home and meet her there. Derek pulled the car down a well-lit alley and stopped in front of a big house. He got out of the car and ran to the porch, shaking off the rain once he was under the shelter. Derek ran his hands through his hair, rearranging his hair, neat his clothes and took a deep breath before he knocked on the door.

Derek took a step back and waited as he heard footsteps approaching the door. The light flicked on in the small hall and the door opened.

"Good evening, Mr. Grey," Derek smiled.

**--**

"Now tell me how long you've been sleeping with Preston Burke?" Meredith asked, when at the end of the day she drove Cristina to her new home.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Cristina answered simply, staring out her window. "Are you two living in the little house on the prairie?" she chuckled mockingly, when she saw the landscape out the window.

"We're almost there, but don't change the subject," Meredith replied. "You know you want to become a cardiothoracic surgeon. You know both Burke and Hahn are the best in the field, yet you don't seem pleased to work with someone that's not Burke. So, since when have you been sleeping with him?" she insisted.

"Since the day of the mixer," Cristina rolled her eyes. "But I didn't know who he was that night," she said defensively.

"Right," Meredith smiled sarcastically. "You had never seen a picture of Dr. Preston Burke, the head of cardiothoracic department at Seattle Grace hospital."

"I can't believe you bought your husband a piece of land and I didn't even get a car. I could really use a new car, you know," Cristina changed the subject again.

"You're not my husband so I can't help you. Why don't you ask your boyfriend to buy you a new one?" Meredith smiled.

"He's not my boyfriend," Cristina answered dryly. "And I don't even want to hear comments about this. Ok you are smart and all, but shut up now."

"How do you expect me to shut up? You didn't even tell me about this," Meredith snapped.

"Oh excuse me, but I don't remember being one of your bridesmaids at your wedding," Cristina retorted.

"He is the Chief's son," Meredith pointed out, referring to Preston Burke.

"And he is your boss and also your husband," Cristina replied, referring at Derek Shepherd. "Besides, Burke is using his mother's maiden name so it's not that obvious that he is the Chief's son as it is that you and Shepherd share the same last name."

"We share the last name only on paper. You know what… whatever. Do what you want," Meredith shrugged.

"Finally," Cristina muttered.

As Meredith pulled the car off the main road and took a turn to the right, she and Cristina were surprised to see a certain person.

"I thought you didn't talk to your dad," Cristina said, both staring out the windshield, at the small porch in front of the trailer, where Derek and Thatcher were standing.

Both men stood up when they saw the car stopping.

"I don't," Meredith muttered, confused. She surely hadn't expected to find her dad with Derek.


	20. So married

Derek came and opened the door for Meredith, helping her out. "Hi," he smiled and kissed her on the cheek.

"Derek," Meredith looked at him, questioning.

"Hi," Derek smiled again. "Hello, Cristina," he also greeted her friend when she walked in front of the car.

"Derek," she smiled. "Dr. Shepherd," she added quickly. They looked at each other for a brief second and Cristina grinned at Derek. "I like your hair."

Derek chuckled and came taking her by the elbow. "Why don't you come with me and I will show you my hair products," he grinned.

"I don't like the way you look at me," Cristina tried to pull her elbow, but his grip was firm.

"I adore your look. Come," he said and dragged her over to the porch, giving Meredith and her father a moment alone.

"Hello, Meredith," Thatcher said and took a hesitant step towards her.

"Hi," Meredith answered simply.

There was a small gap between them, but Meredith didn't think that any of them would fill that space. Thatcher was looking away and she was doing the same, staring in the opposite direction. Meredith glanced at her father just to see him glancing at her as well. She frowned and looked for Derek to shoot him a deadly glare; but Derek was dragging Cristina towards the place where the lake was, probably to drown her, she thought.

"Meredith," Thatcher rather whispered.

"Yes," she answered quietly and looked at him.

Then Thatcher made a step forward and closed the space between them. "I'm sorry," he said softly. He held out his hand, but let it drop it quickly. "I'm sorry."

That wasn't quite enough for Meredith. She just shrugged and looked down at her shoes. In that moment, a shy but loving embrace pulled her into her father's arms. A tear slid down her cheek as she wrapped her arms around him and another tear followed.

"I'm sorry," Thatcher kissed the top of her head and pulled back a little to take her head in his hands and look into her eyes. "You were right about what you said. I just didn't want to admit it."

Meredith couldn't throw harsh words at him again, so she just nodded with a faint smile.

"I am disappointed," he admitted, letting his hands drop to his sides. He stuck his hands into his pockets and started walking slowly without a precise destination. Meredith followed him. "Many times I dreamed about seeing you in a white wedding dress and I imagined myself walking you down to the aisle and giving you to a man who worshiped the ground you walk on," he stopped and smiled at her. He reached out and took her hand, cuddling it between his. "But I am also proud to see you so determined to deal with the consequences of your own mistakes. Your mother will see this one day."

"I know it sounds… very stupid, but I didn't know he was a doctor," Meredith said.

"I know," he smiled reassuringly. "Derek…" Thatcher said, thoughtful for a moment. "He seems to be a decent person."

"He is," Meredith approved.

Thatcher smiled and nodded. "I can see why you gave him a chance. Maybe something good will come out of this."

"Maybe," Meredith smiled. "So, did you get the chance to talk to Derek?"

"I did actually," Thatcher nodded and Meredith could tell he had been impressed.

"About?" she asked curiously.

"Him," he answered simply. He pulled her into his arms again and hugged her. "I am sorry it took me so long to come and apologize."

Meredith stepped back and smiled reassuringly. "That's ok. Uh… I think we should go see where they are," Meredith suggested, tilting her head towards the place where Derek and Cristina had headed.

"Jealous already?" Thatcher smiled.

"Rather afraid. They don't get along that well," Meredith giggled.

"Oh," her father laughed and both started heading towards the lake. "How are the things with Lexie?" he asked her.

Meredith just sighed and shrugged and Thatcher knew the answer already. "I don't know."

"She'll come around too, don't worry. I think she is just jealous."

"Why would she be jealous?" Meredith frowned. "She has no reason."

Thatcher smiled knowingly. "I think she has."

Meredith looked at him questioningly. "You found someone to spend your life with, though it might not be for the rest of your life, but you can experience already what a marriage means. You know how much she wishes for a family of her own."

Meredith sighed and nodded in agreement. That could be true. She hoped that would be the real reason for her bitchiness.

"Is everything all right?" Derek asked, showing up between some trees. He smiled, pleased, to see father and daughter walking side by side and looking comfortable with each other.

"Yes," Meredith answered as she looked around after Cristina. "Where is Cristina?" Meredith frowned and glared at Derek.

"At the lake," Derek answered, smirking.

"Breathing, I hope," Meredith raised a brow.

Derek chuckled. "Definitely breathing. She didn't want to walk with me so she should show up any second now."

"Who found this place?" Thatcher asked, absent as he looked around him at the beautiful landscape.

"I did," Meredith answered.

Thatcher looked at her, surprised. "You remembered it."

"I did," she smiled. "And it's my wedding gift for Derek."

Derek chuckled again, but this time he sounded sarcastic. He walked over to Meredith and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Is it?" he asked her, smirking.

"What's going on?" Thatcher asked, curious.

"Nothing," Meredith answered quickly and smiled at her father while she elbowed Derek to approve her.

"It's nothing," Derek smiled genuinely at his father-in-law. "It's just that your daughter is a very … undecided person."

"Derek," Meredith laughed shortly, gritting her teeth.

Thatcher became suspicious as he started feeling the tension between his daughter and her husband.

"The last time with fought over the trailer, she said she wanted the land back," Derek explained it to him. "And I gave it back to her."

"The land is on your name already," Meredith snapped at Derek. "Can you please stop with that? Ok so I say that each time we fight, but you know I don't mean it."

Derek laughed, unconvincing. "I am trying really hard to understand you, Meredith. You can be a very enigmatic person sometimes."

Meredith groaned, annoyed, and rolled her eyes. "The land is yours. Period."

"Thank you," Derek smiled, calmer. "Sorry about that," he smiled at Thatcher, who was still staring curiously at them.

"Who slapped who?" Cristina cut in as she showed up beside them. "Did she slap him?"

Everyone ignored her.

Derek took Meredith's hand and motioned for Thatcher to follow them. "Dinner is ready."

"Great, because I am starving," Cristina groaned.

"Who invited you here anyway?" Derek turned and glared at her.

Meredith shoved him and forced him to keep walking. "I did."

"Nice," Derek grumbled.

"Trout again?" Meredith almost whimpered while she helped Derek serve the dinner.

"I don't want to hear a word about it," Derek replied firmly as he picked two plates up and walked outside the trailer. Meredith sighed and did the same, taking the other two plates, and followed him outside on the porch.

"I guess that we can't ask you to invite us in," Cristina said as she glared at the rain that had started pouring over Seattle again. "I wouldn't stand to sit onto your lap," she added, rolling her eyes at Derek.

"You'd be staying anyplace else but my lap," Derek muttered.

"Cristina, please stop complaining about him and the trailer," Meredith cut in.

"Oh," Cristina smiled at her, ready for her line. "So you're allowed to complain about the trailer and I am not. You don't like this trailer either."

"I am married to the trailer's owner so I have the right to complain. You, on the other hand… you're just a guest," Meredith replied, glaring at her friend.

"Is she complaining a lot?" Derek asked Cristina, but scowling at his wife.

"Can we eat now?" Meredith smiled sarcastically at him and Derek gave up.

The sound of the rain and the one of their dishes were the only noises coming from the trailer. Everyone ate in silence; Meredith and Derek seemed to have some unsolved issues so they ate glaring at their own plates; all these, while Thatcher and Cristina were glancing at them from time to time.

Thatcher cleared his throat, showing the intention of breaking the awkward silence and finding what was wrong in his daughter's marriage. As he did that, he had their attention.

"How often does this happen?" he asked them.

Meredith looked at Derek and Derek looked at her, both confused with the question.

"The dinner thing?" Meredith asked her father.

"No," he shook his head and put his fork down. "How often do you fight?"

The couple looked at each other again, both looking a little embarrassed.

"Occasionally," Derek muttered and looked down at his plate.

"Occasionally," Meredith approved in the same manner and her eyes fell over her plate, embarrassed. That wasn't a good thing to show to her father about her marriage's progress.

Thatcher looked carefully at the newly wed couple, processing their every word and gesture. "Ok," he answered quietly and picked up his fork. "Your mother wants Cristina and Lexie move into the old house, together with the other girl," he said. He knew that wasn't the best moment to give his daughter a news like that, but he wanted her to know it before hearing it from someone else.

Hearing that, Derek looked up and watched Meredith. From the way she was staring at her father, he knew she was disappointed. Gently he put his hand over hers and gave her a light, comforting squeeze. Meredith looked at him and nodded, slowly letting her hand slip from under his.

"I didn't know anything about this," Cristina said in her own defense.

"That's ok… I guess," Meredith said quietly and picked up her fork. She saw when Derek wanted to take her hand again, but she looked at him and shook her head, asking him not to do it. "It's fine," she smiled at them. "I have my own place now. That house was too big for two people anyway," she cleared her throat, tried to sound confident. She saw the others' stares on her and laughed. "I know, just shut up about it."

This time, Derek took her hand and leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. Meredith smiled and pulled her hand from his again.

"I don't want to admit it," Cristina said, wiping the corners of her mouth with the napkin. "This fish was good," she admitted.

Derek smiled at her, pleasantly surprised. "Thank you."

"You can come and eat whenever you want. We always have fish," Meredith giggled. "My husband is not just a trailer owner, he is also a fisherman. We have fish for breakfast and dinner _all_ the time. Luckily, I get to eat at the hospital at lunch."

"Fish is healthy food, Meredith," Derek replied dryly. "If you have a problem with my cooking, then I recommend you to open a cooking book. I know you can read."

"I don't have a problem with your cooking," Meredith retorted, slowly picking up one of their usual fights. "I have a problem with the fact that the only thing you cook lately is trout."

"That's exactly why I am recommending you to open a book and start learning," Derek retorted. "You know, I've started getting sick of you whining while I am doing all the compromises. I let you choose the side of the bed you wanted, I clean up your mess, I keep sleeping with you though your snore wakes up the entire Seattle…"

"I do not snore!" Meredith protested, deeply offended.

Derek smiled and shook his head, disapproving. "You do snore. You snore like a horse."

Meredith gasped and threw her fork into the plate. "Did you just call me a horse?"

"It was a metaphor, Meredith. My point is that I stand a lot of things that I don't like about you and yet you don't get to hear me whining."

"I stand a lot of your craps too and I don't complain about them," Meredith laughed ironically, folding her arms across her chest and glaring at him.

"So my cooking is a crap?" Derek asked her.

"I am not talking about the trout or about the trailer," Meredith replied. "I am talking about you constantly waking up at the 3 in the morning to go out and fish…"

"You know my answer to that already," Derek mumbled, interrupting her.

Meredith ignored his comment. "If you still wake up this early you could try shaving your beard and wash your teeth because your morning breath is not exactly the sweetest scent to wake up with."

"I wash my teeth!" Derek retorted. "Besides, your drooling is not that charming either, so before you make a comment about my morning breath, you should look at yourself," Derek wasn't going to let her win that fight.

Meredith gritted her teeth and suppressed an outburst. "I listen to your stupid Clash music and you don't get to hear me whining about it either. It's your taste, I respect it though I hate it," Meredith continued, but this time she lowered the tone of her voice.

"Clash is anything else but crap music," he warned her.

"But I don't whine about it, right?" she retorted. "See? You're not the only who makes compromises here."

"I don't complain either each time you sing in the shower. Have you heard yourself singing?" Derek had another reply for her.

Meredith frowned and glared at him. "I sing because I am trying to ignore how small the bathroom is."

"See?" Derek laughed bitterly. "There's always something that you don't like. Is there anything that you like here and at me?"

His question left her speechless. She glanced at her father and her friend and then she looked down at her hands. There were things she liked about him and that place. She just didn't have the courage to tell them.

"I suck it up and you could try do the same," Derek said, calmer now. "If you think that you can't accept what I offer you, then you know what you should do."

Suddenly she felt sick to her stomach and felt a lump in her throat. "Do you want the divorce?" her question came out in whisper.

Derek looked into her eyes, confused to see the battle inside of them. "I don't," he answered quietly. "But apparently, you do."

Meredith bit her lip to keep it from trembling and looked away to hide a tear. She stood up and turned to the rain. "You can have your stupid side of bed back," she said and walked into the rain.

Derek watched her, dumbfounded. Usually, their fights weren't ending like this. As Meredith disappeared into the darkness, Derek tore his eyes to the table, where the guests had watched quietly their fight.

"I am sorry about that," Derek said apologetically.

Neither Cristina nor Thatcher said anything. All three stayed there in silence, each of them with its own thoughts. Probably a minute had passed when Derek stood up. "I'd better go see her," he muttered and walked out into the rain, going after Meredith.

It wasn't raining that bad, but it still could get you soaked. Derek shivered and tucked his arms across his chest as he saw Meredith standing by the lake. He slowly walked towards her and stopped to her side.

Her tears were pouring down her cheeks now, along with the raindrops. She wiped her face and sniffled. Same as Derek, she could not believe how bad their fight had ended.

"I am sorry for everything I said," Derek said softly, gazing over the water.

Meredith looked at him and then followed his gaze. "I am sorry too. I didn't mean it." She looked at him again and met his piercing eyes. She sighed with relief and held out her hand.

In response, Derek wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his arms. "Me neither," he said, kissing her softly on the forehead.

There was a moment of silence between them. Neither of them had lied when they said what they thought about each other, but both of them knew they could live with those things.

"What was that all about?" Derek asked her, gently holding her face in his hands.

Meredith just shrugged. She didn't have the best explanation for it.

"I will try wax ear plugs," Derek smiled.

She looked at him, frowning. "Is my snore that bad? I mean, I know I snore but am I that loud?" she asked him.

Derek laughed and leaned down to kiss her. "Sometimes. Especially when you go to sleep very late, but most of the time… it's ok."

Meredith stepped out of his embrace and sighed as she gazed over the lake.

"What is it?" Derek asked her, brushing her hair off her shoulder.

She looked at him and smiled. "Everything I said about you earlier…"

"What about it?" he asked, seeing her hesitating.

"I don't really care about those things," she admitted. "I don't know… I guess I wanted to see if all the things I didn't like about you were unbearable."

Derek couldn't help but smile, perfectly understanding the meaning of her words. "Are they unbearable?" he asked her, looking for confirmation.

Meredith bit her lip, smiling. "I guess they're not."

Derek took her face in his hands and pressed his lips against hers. "You do like the trout, don't you?" he chuckled.

"It is good…" she admitted with a smile. "As long as I don't have to eat it daily."

Derek laughed and pulled her into his arms. "I promise I will cook something else tomorrow."

"As long as it doesn't swim," she giggled.

"How about the trailer?" he asked her then.

"What about it?"

"Is it that bad? Do you think you are going to make it if you keep leaving in it?" Derek asked.

Meredith wrapped her arms around his neck and reached out for his lips. "As long as you don't feed me with fish."

"You know, you should try your cooking skills," Derek suggested, holding her body tightly pressed against his.

"What if I don't have any cooking skills?"

"Try and see if you have them," he answered. He brushed the hair out of her face and kissed her. "Let's get back to our home." He laughed when Meredith cringed at how he called the trailer. "You're overreacting now," Derek smiled, stroking her cheek. "So, there's no thing you like about me?" he asked her, taking her hand and leading their way back to the trailer.

Meredith just glanced at him and smiled.

When they got there, Thatcher and Cristina stood up from the table.

"Is everything all right?" her father asked them.

"Yes," Meredith answered as she and Derek stepped on the porch.

"Are you sure?" Thatcher asked again.

"We're not calling the lawyer yet," Derek answered.

"Ok," Thatcher smiled. "We should go now."

"No dessert?" Cristina frowned.

Meredith laughed and looked at Derek. "Derek has a special dessert for you."

"Ok, I am out of here," Cristina said quickly and climbed down, walking into the rain.

Thatcher shook Derek's hand. "Take good care of her."

"I will do my best," he assured him.

Then Thatcher gave a hug to his daughter. "Take good care of him," he recommended and gave her a kiss.

"He's going to do his best," she giggled.

"Play nice," Thatcher warned them, walking out in the rain.

"They're so married," Cristina stated when Thatcher came to her side.

"They are," Thatcher chuckled.

"I need a ride home,"

"Of course you do," he smiled and opened the door for her.

Meredith leaned her body against Derek's as he had his arms wrapped around her, watching their guests leaving. "Thanks," she said with a smile.

Derek kissed her on the cheek. "What for?"

Meredith looked at him, smiling. "He wouldn't have come of his own," she said.

Derek stroked her cheek and smiled. "Do you know what day is one week from today?" he asked her.

Meredith thought about it. "Friday," she answered.

"True," Derek laughed. "But what else?"

"Derek?" she smiled at him.

"What?"

"You're getting on my nerves," she stated.

Derek laughed. "It's our anniversary."

"It's been a year already?" Meredith gasped, faking.

"We're getting closer to one month," he said, propping his chin on her shoulder.

"If we make it through this week," she answered.

"I think we have good chances to succeed," Derek chuckled.

"Do you want to know what I like about you?" she turned around and smiled at him.

"I have an idea, but I'd like a confirmation," he admitted.

Meredith giggled like a teenager and looked away. "I like the way you hold me when we sleep," she said quietly. She glanced at Derek to see him grinning at her. "Is there anything you like about me?" she asked him.

Derek ran the back of his hand over her cheek. "There are a couple of them."

"Name three," she grinned.

"I won't," he teased her. "At least, not right now. Let's go inside and dry ourselves," he said and led her inside the trailer.


	21. More communication I say

Derek leaned against his car- a wide smile playing on his lips- as he watched two tiny lights playing in the soft wind beside the lake. Someone was pacing nervously around what looked like a table and Derek could easily guess Meredith's silhouette. He chuckled to himself as he started walking that direction.

"Finally," Meredith groaned, irritated, as she saw him approaching. "You were supposed to be here 10 minutes ago," she scolded.

Derek laughed and checked his watch. "Now I am here, exactly 2 minutes later," he teased her.

Meredith scoffed and turned her back on him to go take a seat at the table she had arranged for their special dinner. Derek was right behind her, holding the chair out for her.

"You can't live 2 minutes without me, can you?" he chuckled as he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.

Meredith smiled and shoved his hand off her shoulder. "Dinner was getting cold," she mumbled as she unfolded her napkin.

Derek was surprised to see the food that lay already in two plates. It looked … messed-up and that made Derek believe that Meredith had not ordered their dinner. He sat down, across from her, unfolded his napkin and laid it onto his lap. He cleared his throat, trying to hide his amusement. She had cooked and he had to be supportive, though their dinner didn't look so appealing. "This is a surprise," he smiled at her.

Meredith carefully checked his sincerity and then she relaxed, giggling. "I know it doesn't look like in the picture, but… it could taste good."

"It could?" Derek laughed.

Meredith wriggled her nose, smiling to his comment.

"I appreciate the gesture," he reassured her. "There's a beginning for everything. Here we are a month later after our so-called-wedding, so I am sure that you'll figure it out how the cooking goes."

"I bought wine," she said, pushing a red wine bottle towards him.

Derek took the bottle and laughed. "At least this looks like in the picture."

"Shut up now," Meredith laughed along with him.

Derek opened the bottle of wine and filled their glasses. "To our first wedding anniversary," he toasted, holding up his glasses.

"We could call it like this for real," Meredith nodded, holding up her glass. "I do feel like we've been married for a year now."

"This is a good thing, right?" he asked her.

"I guess," she giggled.

"So…" Derek put his glass down and picked up his fork. "What do we have here?"

"It's called… marinade fish, with lemon, fennel, potatoes and some weird-called herbs," she explained.

"Weird-called herbs?" Derek raised his brows suspiciously. "I don't like the sound of that."

"They're not poisoning," she rolled her eyes. "It's good," she encouraged him.

"You guess," he added, now looking more reluctant at Meredith's dinner.

"It's trout. Your favorite," she said.

"Hmm," Derek faked excitedly. He sliced a piece of fish and decided to add a potato too just in case. He didn't want to look rude and spit the whole food as soon as he had it into his mouth. Derek smiled at Meredith and took the fork to his mouth. As he started chewing it, Derek had the sensation he was eating something so unfamiliar… bad. The fish had a weird flavor… of 'some weird-called herbs' flavor and the potatoes didn't seem like they had been through any thermal process. He chewed and tried to look genuine. "You know…" he stuffed the food to a side into his mouth as he looked at Meredith. "It's considered rude to stare at people while they eat. It's not poisoned I hope," he said and quickly picked up his napkin, ready to spit the food no matter if it was poisoned or not.

"No," she stopped him, giggling. "It's not poisoned," she reassured him, although Derek didn't agree with her. "I just want to know your first impression."

Derek chuckled nervously and started chewing again, hardly fighting against the urge of spitting the food. "Let me taste it first, so please eat," he told her, anxious to get rid off her questioning stare, but also curious to see if she liked what she had cooked.

Meredith picked up her fork and started eating. Derek was now the one staring at her. He smiled, hopeful, as he saw her hesitating after the first bite, but then she took another piece of fish. Derek had to admit to himself that he was a little scared now of Meredith's tastes. He focused on his food, determined not to eat more than half of it.

"You didn't eat your food," he noticed when his plate was half-empty while Meredith's was still full.

Meredith shrugged. "I wasn't so hungry," she lied.

Derek furrowed his brows, visibly displeased with her lie. He pushed his plate away and took a gulp from his glass of wine.

"How was it?" she asked him and Derek sighed discreetly when he saw the hope in her eyes.

"Not so bad for the beginning," he lied. "You still need practice."

Meredith had tasted from the food too and Derek was wrong when he thought that Meredith was having weird tastes. It tasted bad for her too. She smiled gratefully and stood up as she walked around the table and wrapped her arms around Derek's neck.

Derek smiled and pushed the chair back so that he could bring her onto his lap. She took his face between her hands and brushed her lips against his, licking the strong wine flavor off them. His arms locked around her as he held her pressed against his body. Meredith shifted her position onto his lap so that she was mounting him, her arms around his neck, her lips brushing along his jaw. "Do you want to celebrate it in here or inside?" she moaned in his ear.

Derek moaned but something made him reluctant towards Meredith's suggestion; something inside his stomach. He grabbed her waist and pushed his chair back so that he could stand up and run.

"What's…" Meredith frowned at first when Derek brutally dropped her off his lap, but then she looked worried and hurried after him, seeing him throwing up. "What's wrong?" she asked, gently rubbing circles over his back.

His stomach calmed down and Derek wiped his mouth with the napkin, panting. "I am fine now," he smiled faintly at her, reassuring her.

"You're not fine," she argued. "You just throw up. Why?" but she answered herself to that question as she understood. She hadn't liked the food so she didn't eat it, but Derek did. "It's because of what I cooked," she muttered.

Derek smiled apologetically as he caressed her cheek. "I am sorry."

"Why did you eat it if it wasn't good?" she scowled at him.

"I didn't want to hurt your feelings. I do appreciate the fact that you tried and I want to be supportive," Derek smiled softly.

Meredith angrily slapped his hand. "You're so stupid."

"Why am I stupid?" Derek frowned.

"You don't eat a thing you don't like, especially if you could get sick just to please somebody," she scolded. "Seriously!"

Derek stared at her, dumfounded. She was the angry one though he had been poisoned and not her. "You're unbelievable."

"I am unbelievable!" Meredith spat angrily. "You are unbelievable. You ate the food though you didn't like it only to act like a victim now."

"Not true!" Derek retorted. He sighed with frustration and ran both hands over his face, angry. "Why do you always have to pick up the fight?"

"I am not picking anything," Meredith glared.

"Yes, you are," he disagreed. "That's exactly what you are doing now."

"We are not fighting," Meredith frowned.

"We are not using the fists but it's still called fighting," Derek found the mood to chuckle.

"I don't know I have put it up with you for a whole month," Meredith grumbled, turning on her heels to walk away.

"You had to put it up with me?" Derek laughed bitterly, making Meredith turn back to him. "Look at us, Meredith. This was supposed to be a pleasant evening."

"Great, now you're accusing me of ruining the evening, only because I tried to cook,"

Derek closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm down and not to burst nervous again. He opened his eyes and made a step towards her, reaching for her hand. Her arm stiffened at first, but as Derek didn't want to let it go, Meredith stopped fighting and let Derek pull her into his arms.

"I do appreciate your intention of romantic dinner," he said softly, looking into her eyes. He smiled and ran his thumb against her cheek. "It was indeed very stupid of me to eat it, but…" he sighed as he looked for the right words. "Next time I will help you. I will teach you," he promised.

"I am not the one who always picks up the fight," Meredith grumbled.

Derek pressed his lips against her forehead. "Yes, you are," he contradicted her.

"No, I am not," Meredith refused to accept the truth and slapped his hand again, pushing him away.

"See?" Derek pointed out. He chuckled when Meredith sniffed like a baby. As response, Meredith threw a fist in his chest. Her action seemed to have revolted his stomach again, because Derek turned his back on her in a sudden and started throwing up.

"I am going to make you a tea," Meredith said and turned to walk back to the trailer.

"No," Derek stopped her, grabbing her hand.

"It's just tea, Derek," she rolled her eyes at his complete distrust. "Tea bag and hot water. I will add some honey too," she jerked her hand as Derek refused to let her go.

Meredith did his tea and came to bring it to him outside on the porch. She found him lying in a chair, looking exhausted, with droplets of sweat on his forehead. "You should lay down," she said, running her hand over his forehead.

Derek nodded and stood up slowly, led by Meredith inside the trailer.

"How much did you throw up? You didn't eat much," Meredith wondered.

Derek felt too weak to answer; he just shrugged as he trailed to the bed and crashed on it.

"I can't believe I poisoned you," Meredith muttered and rolled her eyes with a smile as Derek grinned at her. "I know. I admit. Here," she handed him a cup of tea.

Derek looked at her suspiciously, not daring to take the cup from her. Meredith took a sip from it and smiled pleased of its content. "I can make tea," she reassured him.

"I hope so," Derek sighed as he trailed up on the pillows, leaning his head against the headboard. He carefully took the cup from Meredith and took a small sip. The hot fluid had a strong flavor of lemon and felt refreshing to his stomach.

Meredith nestled beside Derek with his arm around her shoulders, both lying in bed, watching through the small window from the hood the rain that had started dripping over their home in the meantime.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him, propping her chin on his shoulder after they had spent the last minutes watching and listening to the rain.

Derek smiled at her, stroking lightly her cheek, "Better."

"I guess there won't be any anniversary sex tonight," she sighed and put her head back down on his shoulder.

"It's too risky," Derek chuckled. He tightened his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "I'd like to spend the rest of my life with you."

She looked up at him, smiling. "Would you?"

"Yes," he brushed the back of his hand against her cheek. "I just wish we could communicate more easily."

"We do communicate," she frowned.

Derek smiled and shook his head knowingly. "We do communicate, but not as easy as I wish. I want you to feel more comfortable with me."

"You're not intimidating me," Meredith answered, confused with his words.

Derek smiled and rolled to his side, facing her. "I love you," he smiled, looking into her eyes.

Meredith stared at him, her mind in complete haze. She wished he were just teasing, but she could read something in his eyes that showed he was somewhat honest. She had already admitted to herself that she was carrying some certain feelings for him; she just didn't know exactly what kind of feelings.

"See? You're not feeling comfortable with me," Derek pointed out as he interpreted her silence.

"I do feeling comfortable with you," Meredith muttered.

"Then why aren't you saying anything back? I know there's something in there," he said softly, touching her chest.

"How do you know?" she asked him, diverting from the main subject and gaining more time.

"Because I've got to know you. First of all, you wouldn't have stayed married for so long if there were no feelings and then, because… the sex has changed."

"The sex?" she asked, confused.

Derek chuckled and leaned down to kiss her softly on the lips. "You're more… loving while we have sex."

Meredith felt her cheeks flushing and she bit her lip to hide her smile. "I am not more loving," she grumbled.

Derek disagreed with another chuckle. "Do you want to pick up another fight? We are so close to it just because you don't want to admit it."

"I don't know," she rolled her eyes, acting slightly irritated. "I don't pay attention to myself while I have sex."

"But I do pay attention to you," Derek smiled genuinely. "Are you going to believe me now?"

Meredith smiled at him and shrugged. "Maybe… ok," she finally accepted his statement.

"Then tell me about your feelings," he challenged her.

Meredith rolled onto her back, folding her arms against her chest and glaring at the ceiling. "I don't know if it's love, so I don't know what to say about it."

Derek leaned down and kissed her, rolling her to her side so that he could spoon her. "Will you tell me when you figure it out?"

She smiled over her shoulder at him. "I will."

"Ok then," Derek kissed her on the cheek.

She rolled into his arms, facing him. "Are you in love with me for real?" she asked him, an impressed smile playing on her face.

"I am not sure either," he admitted and her smile vanished instantly. "But I know I'd like to spend the rest of my life with you."

Meredith tried to act unhappy with his statement but the smile in her eyes betrayed her. "More communication I say," she giggled and reached for his lips. Before the kiss could make their bodies heat, Meredith pulled away and rolled to the other side, letting Derek spoon her again.

"I heard a crazy rumor," Derek said. "I am going to become a father," he grinned as he waited for Meredith's reaction.

Forgetting about the lie she had told Rose days ago, Meredith jumped off his arms angrily. "You what?"

Derek kept grinning at her. "I know. It's shocking for me too," he teased her.

Meredith gritted her teeth and her hands rolled into fists, shaking of anger. "You told me you love me and now…"

"I didn't say I loved you," Derek cut in.

"You did say, but now we are talking about you becoming a father soon. How could you say what you said when you are about to become a father? You are going to have a baby with another woman! Who is she?" she demanded. "And stop grinning like an idiot!"

Derek stood up, laughing, and wrapped his arms around her, fighting against her anger. "With my wife!" he added.

Meredith froze in his arms and looked at him, terrified. Then she remembered her lie. "How do you know?" she mumbled.

It was Derek's turn now to freeze and Meredith hardly composed herself not to burst into laugh. "You really are pregnant?"

"Gotcha!" Meredith started laughing.

Derek sighed as he tried to calm his pulse down and ran his hand over his forehead. "Funny," he muttered.

Meredith giggled and leaned to kiss him. "I am sorry I poisoned you."

Derek smiled and nodded. "Apologies accepted."

They laid back in bed and snuggled in each other's arms… one month after their accidental wedding.


	22. Enough mothers

Meredith was standing at the nurses' station, reading from a book when someone stopped beside her. She looked out the corner of her eyes and recognized that someone

Lexie cleared her throat nervously, obviously trying to work up the courage to say something. Meredith turned to look at her.

"What is it? It's been too long since you last insulted me?" she said coldly.

Lexie looked away, embarrassed. She stared her shoes as she cleared her throat again. "I know I've been acting like a bitch lately," she said. Meredith didn't say anything to her. Lexie continued, "I don't know why I acted like… the way I did. I'm sorry about it."

"I'm not going to ask him any favors for you," Meredith replied bitterly as she glared down at her book.

"I don't want you to," Lexie answered quickly. "I… We're cousins, Meredith. We're like sisters."

"That's right," Meredith looked at her cousin, pain in her eyes. "And when I needed your support the most, you turned your back on me. You didn't just turn your back on me, but you also insulted me."

Lexie had tears in her eyes as she listened to Meredith's harsh –but true- words.

"Why?" Meredith asked. "Why did you act the way you did?"

Lexie quickly brushed away tears as she shrugged. "I guess I was jealous."

"There's no reason to be jealous," Meredith answered. Ever since her father had told her the same thing about Lexie, Meredith kept asking herself why was that. What she had done was far from being romantic or a fairytale.

"You do all these things… crazy things. You have a crazy life. You get to do something out of ordinary. Me? I'm so… pathetic and boring," Lexie trailed off and Meredith stared at her.

"You are so weird," she muttered. "Seriously?" Lexie glanced at her with an ashamed look. "Seriously," Meredith laughed, shaking her head. "I'm a bad example, Lexie."

"No, you're not," Lexie disagreed.

"Ask my mother," Meredith answered as she shut her book. She sighed and leaned on the counter, staring at her cousin for a brief moment. "Don't follow my example."

"Am I forgiven?" Lexie asked, a hopeful smile playing on her lips.

"Yes," Meredith smiled, rolling her eyes.

"Thank you," she sighed with relief. "And Meredith… we won't move into your parents' house. We'll talk to your mother about it. That's your house."

Meredith smiled and shook her head. "You don't have to. You can move there. I really don't care anymore," she said with sincerity.

Lexie wanted to say something in return, but in that moment, her pager went off. "I have to go. I will meet you later at lunch?"

"I have to scrub in later and I don't know how long it will take," Meredith shrugged.

"I'll catch up with you later anyway," Lexie said; ready to sprint down the hall.

Meredith stayed thoughtful, long after her cousin was out of her sight, thinking of what Lexie had told her. "I am way more mature than she is," she concluded, muttering under her breath.

"Oww,"

As she turned and picked up the book, Meredith heard someone's whimper. She looked at her right to see a tall, attractive man, wincing as he touched his forehead.

"Are you all right?" she asked him.

The man looked at her and glared. "What are you a nurse? I don't need your help. I need a doctor."

Meredith rolled her eyes at that man's bitter comment. "I am a doctor," she said.

The man narrowed his eyes as he stared suspiciously at her. "You're young, what kind of doctor are you?" he asked her.

"I'm an intern," Meredith answered, slightly irritated by the man's rudeness. "You need to come with me and let me look at your forehead," she said, looking at the small cut from his forehead.

"Hey," the man jerked his arm when Meredith touched him. "Listen to me, Dr. …" he snapped, pausing for a brief second to look at Meredith's badge. "Oh," the man looked carefully at Meredith and a crooked smile crept on his face. "Ok," he agreed, looking more willing.

Meredith found his sudden change of attitude odd, but she didn't ask the reason for it and she considered it the result of head trauma. "What happened?" she asked him.

The man chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "I hurried to get out the elevator,"

Meredith found herself staring at him, bemused as she listened to his explanation. She bit her lip to hide her smile.

"Come with me," Meredith motioned for him to follow her down the hall. She stopped beside a chair and pulled out a cart with supplies. "Please take a seat," she told him as she put on the gloves.

"Are you going to give me a consult in the hallway?" the man frowned, displeased.

"There's been a collision on the highway and all the exam rooms are booked for serious cases. You smacked your head against the elevator door, you'll live," Meredith replied. "Please take a seat and let me clean your cut!"

The man sighed loudly as he sat down.

"Are you feeling dizziness, headache or nausea?" Meredith asked him, while doing her job as doctor.

"Headache and nausea, no," the man answered, smiling crookedly at her.

"Oh," Meredith looked at him, worried, not yet sensing his flirtatious attitude. "Are you feeling dizzy right now?"

"Yes," the man closed his eyes, and nodded slowly as if he was hurt. "Your beauty is making me dizzy," he grinned at her.

Meredith rolled her eyes and smiled, shaking her head. "Ok, so after we are done here, I am sending you for a CT. Did you try to open the doors with your head?" she asked him sarcastically.

"Ha-ha," he chuckled. "I really like you. You're my favorite doctor,"

"Do you do this often?" she asked him.

"Visiting doctors?" he asked back.

"Hitting your head against the doors and see doctors afterwards," she replied with a sarcastic smile. "If you were looking for psychiatry, that's on the 4th floor."

"Now, that was inappropriate to say to your patient," he frowned. Meredith rolled her eyes and didn't say anything, as she knew he was right, no matter how inappropriate his comments were. He was her patient and she had to show respect in any situation. "I forgive you," he reassured her, smiling, but Meredith didn't like the way he was doing it. "I am visiting Seattle for a few days and I could use a pretty little guide to show me around the city."

It was obvious to her now the way that man was hitting on her. "You woke up this morning and decided it would be interesting to pay a visit to… Seattle."

"That's right," he smirked at her.

"Seattle is a nice city. Very friendly. Go out explore it. By yourself," she replied.

"By myself?" the man grimaced. "Who's going to hold my umbrella?"

"Your hands," Meredith giggled.

He shook his head, smiling. "I was thinking of holding something else with my hands," he smirked.

His head injury was nothing but a superficial scratch, so Meredith just cleaned it and decided to let it heal by itself. "Are you sure you don't want me to take you for a CT?" she asked him, thinking she was doing her job.

"I am sure," he smiled crookedly. "But you could take me to a bed," he added. "You could supervise me closer there."

Meredith stared at him, speechless and outraged.

"I feel dizzy," he laughed at her expression.

"You know, that's called sexual harassment," Meredith pointed out as she took off her gloves, hardly fighting the urge to slap him for his rudeness.

"Because I mentioned the bed?" he chuckled. "Ok. Then go out with me when your shift ends."

"Impossible," she answered straight.

"Give me a good reason for why this is impossible," he challenged her.

"Because I am married," she answered.

The man narrowed his eyes and scrutinized at her hands. "It's not working. The old 'I'm-married' or 'I-am-seeing-someone' trick is old. You could have come up with something original. Go out with me tonight."

"I am married," Meredith scoffed and took out the necklace she was wearing underneath her scrub top and showed him her wedding ring.

"This is a bluff," he laughed mockingly. "You wear that so that you can get rid of guys you don't like. Why don't you like me?"

Meredith groaned loudly, rolling her eyes. "Because I am married. I don't need to prove you anything. Go back to your business. As I said, the psychiatry is on the 4th floor."

As Meredith turned to leave, she ran into Derek, who was coming to them, smiling.

"Mark?" he asked, looking at that man. "What are you doing here?"

"You know this guy?" Meredith asked him, glaring.

"He's Mark," Derek chuckled. "What are you doing here?" he laughed as he pulled him friend into a bear hug

"I came with Mom to pay you a visit," Mark laughed.

"Mom is here too?" Derek asked, surprised.

"I let her unpack. She'll be here soon," Mark answered.

Meredith listened to them, stunned. "So you know this guy," she muttered, glaring at Mark.

Derek nodded his head and put an arm around Meredith's shoulders. He looked around them before he told Mark, "Mark, I want you to meet my wife. Meredith."

Meredith smiled and when Mark laughed and reached his hand out for hers, she slapped him eagerly.

"Meredith!" Derek snapped and grabbed her wrist.

"Dr. Grey!" Dr. Webber's shout echoed on the hallway.

"Why did you do that?" Derek asked her in whisper.

"Dr. Grey, my office. Now!" The chief barked as he walked past them.

"I suppose you won't tell him why," she said to Mark, glaring at him.

"Dr. Grey!" The chief shouted, more nervous.

Meredith sighed, anticipating the trouble she was in now, and followed Dr. Webber.

"What's going?" Derek demanded, glaring at his friend.

Mark smiled nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "I think I accidentally mentioned something about a bed."

Derek gritting his teeth and his hands rolled into fists, fighting against the urge to punch him. "You hit on my wife?"

"I was just testing her," Mark replied defensively. "I swear! I ran into her and when I saw her name, I thought I should test her fidelity."

"You idiot," Derek glared at him and walked after Meredith and the Chief.

"Honestly. I was just testing," Mark ran after him. "And I got to tell you. She's crazy about you. She kept rubbing it in my face about her husband, how happily married she was and how wild and passionate the sex…" Mark stopped when Derek stopped as well, glaring at him.

"Never use her name and words with sexual references in the same sentence," he warned him and started walking towards the Chief's office.

"Dr. Shepherd, this is a matter between Dr. Grey and I. Your presence here is not required," Richard stopped Derek when he wanted to follow him inside his office.

"Chief,"

"No. Please don't interfere in her favor," Richard cut him off before Derek could say something.

Derek shook his head, refusing to listen to him. "This also involves Dr. Mark Sloan," he said, pointing to his right where Mark was standing.

Richard's eyes flickered when he heard his name. "You're the plastic surgeon from New York?" he asked.

Mark smiled and nodded while he held out his hand. "Dr. Mark Sloan," he introduced himself.

Richard looked at him in awe. "And what are you doing in Seattle? Visiting or are you planning on moving your practice here?"

"Visiting," Mark answered.

"Can we come in now?" Derek asked anxiously. "He wants to explain what happened earlier."

"I saw what happened," Richard replied.

"He'd want to explain it though," Derek insisted.

"Fine," Richard gave up and let them walk inside his office.

Meredith told about what happened and Mark confirmed each word, smiling apologetically each time Derek was glaring at him. Richard listened to the both sides and concluded.

"Dr. Grey, if something like this happen, you go and report to your superior. Any assault, physical or verbal- towards our patients is forbidden,"

"He wasn't even her patient," Derek cut in.

Richard ignored him and continued talking to Meredith. "I have to write you a report and suspend you for two weeks."

"Suspend me?" Meredith shouted.

"Suspend her?" Derek snapped. "Richard!"

"These are the rules, Dr. Shepherd! She treated his cut so he was her patient. Case closed."

"Don't you think that's too much," Mark cut in, taking Meredith's side. "As I said, I deserved that slap."

"He deserved more than a slap," Derek grumbled, glaring at his friend.

"Case closed," Richard said firmly. "Starting now…" he started talking to Meredith again, when Derek cut in.

"Dr. Sloan will be working for Seattle Grace for a month," he said the first thing that came to his mind to help Meredith. He saw Mark's curious stare, but he replied with a cold glare, mutually telling him to comply.

"Dr. Sloan," Richard looked at Mark, curious, and Derek smiled to himself as he saw him interested.

Mark sighed and nodded reluctantly. "Only if Dr. Grey doesn't get any sanction for what happened."

Richard looked at each of them, thoughtfully, and then he stood up and held out this hand. "It will be a pleasure to have you here for a month."

Mark faked an excited smile as he stood up and shook the Chief's hand.

"Dr. Grey, you may go back to work now," he said, without looking in Meredith's direction and she complied gratefully, followed by Derek.

"Aren't you proud of me?" Derek smiled smugly as they walked on the bridge.

Meredith had to admit that she felt relieved to have come out of that incident without a report. However, Mark's presence didn't seem appealing. "Let me think… two weeks off or having Mark Sloan on my back for a whole month," she smiled sarcastically.

"He was just teasing you, I promise," he assured. "And it won't happen again."

"I hope so," Meredith grumbled. She stopped and turned, facing Derek. "So your mom is in Seattle?" she asked him, worried.

Derek smiled at her and wanted to pull her into a comforting hug, but he knew that was forbidden too. "Don't worry about her. You don't have to deal with this right now. Probably we'll go have dinner tonight and you'll meet her then."

"So I still have to deal with the idea of meeting your mother," she sighed.

"Hey, my mom is the best mom. Don't be nervous of her," he smiled reassuringly.

Meredith sighed and nodded, unconvinced. Derek leaned to her and brushed his lips against her ear. "Go back to work now and stay out of trouble," he chuckled.

Meredith bit her lip to muffle her giggle as she watched him leave.

"Derek!" Soon after he left Meredith, Mark caught up with Derek. "What was that all about?".

Derek smiled and shook his head. "Your punishment for hitting on my wife. Has he made you sign anything?"

"No," Mark shook his head.

"That's only a verbal agreement. You're good at breaking these."

"She's pretty. Only an intern though," Mark stated.

"So?"

"Just saying," Mark shrugged.

"Stop saying then," Derek muttered.

--

A wide smile lighted up his face, when Derek spotted in the cafeteria two women chatting to a table with Mark. One of the women was Adele and the other one- a grey haired woman, looking in her mid 60s and with an infectious smile- was his mother. His smile became even wider when her piercing blue eyes met his.

"Mom," Derek walked over to their table and hugged his mother tightly.

"My baby," Ella hugged him with the same affection. She pulled back and took his face between her hands as she looked at him. "You haven't changed much,"

Derek chuckled and kissed his mother. "It hasn't been long since we last saw each other."

"It hasn't, but many things have happened in this short time," she pointed out, referring to his marriage.

Derek just smiled and walked over to Adele, leaning down to kiss her. "Hello, Adele!"

"Hello, Derek," she greeted him with a smile.

Derek took a chair and sat between Adele and his mother. "What brings you here?" he asked Ella, taking her hand in his.

"He's so slow sometimes," she chuckled, looking at Adele. "Take a guess,"

Derek chuckled and nodded.

"Where's Meredith? You told me she works here," she said, anxiously looking around them as if she would recognize Meredith if she saw her. "Mark says she's nice, but you know I don't buy what he says about women."

"Mom," Derek looked disapprovingly at her. "Mark knows nothing about women. Please don't judge her before you meet her personally."

"I'm sorry. I won't do it. Where is she? Is she joining us soon for lunch?" she asked him.

"I think she's in surgery," Derek answered. "But you'll get to meet her later for sure."

"How are you, Derek?" she asked her son.

Derek smiled reassuringly and leaned in, kissing her on the cheek. "I am good. Content with my life and my job."

Ella looked deep into her son's eyes as if she wanted to assure herself of that. She smiled and squeezed his hand.

"Derek," Mark cut in, chuckling as he followed someone with his eyes. "Isn't that Ellis Grey?"

Derek flinched in his seat as he shifted and followed Mark's gaze. He saw Ellis carrying a tray with food to a table.

"She's here for a consult," Derek muttered.

"She's Meredith's mother, right?" Ella listened to their talk. "Why don't you call her to come and sit with us?"

"I don't think so," Derek muttered, unsure of how Ellis would get along with his mother, as he already knew Ellis' opinion toward her daughter's marriage.

"Derek, we are relatives now," Ella pointed out.

Before Derek could say anything, Mark stood up and headed to Ellis' table. Derek wanted to disappear in that moment. He watched Mark talking to Ellis and pointing to their table and then Ellis nodded and stood up, picking up her tray.

"Hello, Adele," Ellis smiled as she greeted Adele first.

"Ellis," Adele smiled politely.

"Dr. Shepherd," she said coldly, just glancing at Derek.

"Dr. Grey," Derek forced a smile to look politely, already very worried of how she would behave with his mother.

What Derek didn't know was that Ellis Grey was a lady. She smiled as she looked at Ella and her courtesy looked sincere. "You must be Mrs. Shepherd," she said, holding out her hand.

Ella stood up and shook her hand. "It's nice to finally meet you," she smiled. "Actually it's nice to finally someone from the Grey family."

Mark brought a chair between Ella and him for Ellis to sit down. "You just got to Seattle?" Ellis asked her.

"This morning," Ella nodded. "I couldn't stay any longer in New York and not know what was going on in my son's life."

"And you haven't met Meredith yet?" Ellis asked.

Ella smiled and shook her head. "Derek assured me I would meet her today. I have to admit that this is a very uncomfortable situation," she stated.

"I will be straight," Ellis replied. "What do you think about this marriage?"

Derek's mom sighed and Derek could read some disappointment in her smile. "It's not what I ever imagined it would happen. I always had critics each time I saw this kind of news at television, but now that my own child is involved in something like this… I don't want to be critic because he is my child, but I can't understand this… situation so… I don't think I can be supportive either."

"I am glad to see hear a reasonable person about this situation. My husband actually started supporting it," Ellis answered, reading in her glare the contradiction she had with her husband.

"Now let's see past this wedding," contrary to Ellis, Ella showed more compliance to the situation, though she was sharing her thoughts. "They've been married for… a month already, right?" she said, glancing at Derek for approval.

"Yesterday we celebrated…" Derek wanted proudly to mention about their first wedding anniversary, but his mother didn't look interested and continued.

"This could be a good thing. Maybe their marriage isn't such a big mistake,"

"Only they know how much they can bear to live with each other, just to prove us we are wrong and they are right about this charade," Ellis disagreed with her.

"We are very happy with each other," Derek cut in nervously. "Stop making assumptions when you don't know what's really going on with us!"

"Derek!" Ella scolded. "Don't be rude."

"You are parents, not judges. If you don't want to support us, then don't, but stop criticize us," Derek barely kept his voice calm. "We don't have children so we are free to experiment this life however we like to. We argue, we laugh and we make love. We are a couple."

That brought silence to their table and neither of them dared to comment upon the topic.

Adele cleared her throat, ready to end the uncomfortable silence. "I just remembered a thing that seems none of you remembers," she said, looking at Ellis and Ella.

The two women looked at each other, confused, and then at Adele. "We're afraid that we don't know what you're talking about, Adele," Ella said and Ellis approved, nodding.

Adele stayed thoughtful for another moment and then she started laughing. "This is so… surprising," she stated and made everyone very curious. "I am sure Meredith doesn't remember, but Derek, you were… 11 if I am right."

"I was 11 once. I am almost sure of it," Derek chuckled.

"Do you remember when you visit us in Seattle?" Adele asked Ella. "You brought Derek and Kathleen with you back then."

"And Derek had a case of appendicitis," Ella nodded, smiling as she seemed to remember the same thing as Adele. "We took him to Seattle Grace where you and Richard were… residents?" she asked, looking at Ellis now.

"Indeed. I operated him," she stated, remembering as well.

"You operated me?" Derek asked, staring at Ellis in awe.

"Yes," Ellis laughed. "This is an… interesting coincidence."

"Man, you were in your future mother-in-law hands," Mark chuckled mockingly.

"I wasn't talking about that," Adele cut in. "Thatcher and Meredith came to take you for lunch one day, Ellis. I remember, we were in Derek's room when Thatcher came looking for you. I think I can even remember the whole picture. Meredith was two at that time and Thatcher was holding her into his arms. I remember she hid her face in her father's neck when she saw Derek. She was so scared of seeing sick people and blood."

"And she wouldn't want to say hi to anyone then," Ellis remembered. "She was indeed 2 year-old when she first … met you," she said quietly, looking at Derek.

Derek listened, stunned, to them as they replayed that scene. He tried to remember it too, but without much success. He did remember the days he spent in hospital after his surgery, but he couldn't remember the little girl who came into his room. He just could picture the scene as the women described it. Derek smiled as he listened to them, though he couldn't remember anything, and as he looked at each of them, Derek saw Mark biting his lip and hardly fighting back a laugh.

"Shut up," he hissed, warning him.

That caused Mark to burst into a hysterical. "She was still wearing diapers when you were already in puberty."

Ella slapped his back, glaring at him.

"Derek," Ella said softly, taking her son's hand into hers. "We can't do anything about this. Only you and Meredith can decide what the best is for you. I just want you to… to be mature, because a marriage is not a game."

"We know that, mom," Derek assured her.

"I am glad to hear that. Now, when do I get to meet Meredith?" she asked.

"How about tonight at dinner?" Derek suggested and looked at Ellis as well, letting her know the invitation was for her too.

"I am looking forward to it," Ella answered.

"Could Thatcher come too?" Derek asked Ellis.

Ellis raised her brows, looking somewhat displeased to hear Derek calling her husband by his first name, although she knew the good relationship Derek had with his father-in-law. "He will come," she nodded.

"This is a good opportunity to meet both families," Ella agreed. "Does Meredith have any siblings?" she asked Ellis.

"No," Ellis shook her head. "She's the only child."

"I want to come too," Mark cut in with childish enthusiasm.

"You can come, but don't bring with you your nasty jokes," Derek glared at his friend.

Mark chuckled, not intimidated by Derek's hostile glare. "I said I was just testing her."

"What have you done?" Ella scolded, already suspecting what Derek and Mark were talking about.

"You don't want to know," Derek grumbled.

"Did you know they live in a trailer?" Ellis asked Ella, sounding matter-of-factly rather than outraged, though Derek knew very well her opinion about them and their marriage.

"You live in a trailer, Derek?" his mother gasped as she heard that.

Derek closed his eyes and groaned. He stood up and kissed his mother on the cheek. "It's good to see you getting along so well with each other, so I don't have to stay and bear the torture. Just behave tonight," he told them, obviously referring at their behavior toward Meredith. "I will see you tonight, mom," he said. "Adele, Dr. Grey," he tilted his head as salute and he decided to walk away, as he had enough mothers for the moment.


	23. Family

**Chapter 23 – Family**

The twilight was falling over Seattle, sinking the inside of the trailer in darkness. Meredith lay beside Derek, her head on his bare chest, holding her eyes closed as she enjoyed the gentle movements of his fingers through her hair.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked her, stroking her cheek.

Meredith opened her eyes and propped her chin on his chest, as she looked at him, thoughtful. "No," she muttered.

"Mer," Derek rolled onto his side, facing her. "I promise we leave if any of them says anything nasty about us."

"Why did you have to invite my parents too?" Meredith frowned.

"What's wrong in this?" he asked, confused.

"Too formal," Meredith grumbled.

Derek sighed as he flipped onto his back, already feeling like he used all the arguments he had to make Meredith more wiling toward that dinner. "We have your dad on our side now. That's a sure thing."

Meredith lay on her back as well, staring at the ceiling. "I got used to my mom's opinion about this, but… how about your mother?" she looked at him, worried. "I don't think I can take another mother's critics."

Derek smiled and rolled onto his side again, facing her. "She might say something subtle about this. How could not she? But I can assure you that she won't offend you."

"How about your friend?" Meredith frowned. "Why did you have to invite him?"

"Because he is like a brother to me and because you wouldn't want to have my sisters here tonight instead of him," Derek sustained his arguments calmly. As nothing seemed to make Meredith feel more optimistic about the dinner, Derek thought about making a joke. "Let's make a deal," he suggested, grinning at her. "If Mark misbehaves tonight, we invite him over to dinner," he kept grinning at her as he waited for Meredith to get his hint.

Meredith smiled and giggled. "We could invite him here."

"We could," Derek chuckled.

"And I could cook," Meredith added.

"I wouldn't let anyone else but you to prepare the dinner," Derek laughed.

Meredith laughed along with him and moved on top of him, mounting him. Derek ran his fingers through her hair, holding it to back.

"You're a spoiled wife," he chuckled, bringing her head down to him to kiss her.

"I am not," Meredith pouted childishly.

"You are," Derek disagreed, smiling. "I came earlier from work to have sex with you and encourage you to come to dinner; then I put my friend's life to risk for you."

Meredith giggled and brushed her lips against his as she stayed and hovered. "I could spoil you too if everything goes well."

"I am ready to keep my promise then," Derek laughed, flipping her onto her back and moving on top of her. He looked for her hand and their fingers intertwined. As he did that, Derek noticed she was wearing the wedding band.

"You should put it back too," Meredith suggested quietly as she noticed his surprise.

"I didn't think about this," Derek said, thoughtful. "They might criticize us because of this, couldn't they?"

"Who?" Meredith asked, confused, not getting at first that Derek was talking about the meeting with their families.

Derek looked at her suspiciously. "You put it back on because our families might say something about it."

"Oh," Meredith understood then. That wasn't the real reason she put back her wedding band, but now that he mentioned it she wasn't going to tell him about the real reason. "Yes," she nodded.

Derek looked at her carefully as he knew she was hiding something. Slowly he started processing. He leaned down and kissed her. "You don't want other man to hit on you."

"That's not true," she frowned. "Do what you want," she grumbled as she pushed him off her. "I need to take a shower."

Derek took off the necklace he was wearing and let the ring slip into his palm, sliding it then on his finger. "I guess I don't want other women to hit on me either," Derek chuckled to himself.

----------

As they walked into the restaurant, Meredith spotted her parents sitting on a table and talking to two other people. One of those people, Meredith knew already as being Derek's best friend; the other person was an elder woman, Derek's mother. Her feet froze and suddenly started feeling sick to her stomach.

Derek wrapped an arm around her when he saw her freaking out and lean to her ear. "I promise," he whispered in her ear.

Meredith stared at his mother for a moment, trying to learn more about her as she watched her gestures and features. Thatcher and Ellis looked like they were having a pleasant conversation with her and Mrs. Shepherd always seemed to answer with a smile. She didn't look like a mean person, Meredith encouraged herself.

"Take my hand each time you're feeling scared," Derek whispered.

Meredith looked into his eyes and nodded reluctantly as she started walking again. She reached for Derek's hand and held it as Derek led their way to the table.

"Good evening, everyone," he announced their arrival, smiling at them. "We're sorry for being late."

"Hi, Derek," Thatcher was the first one who stood up and greeted them, shaking Derek's hand and giving a hug to his daughter.

Derek put his arm around Meredith's waist as he introduced her to his mother, "Mom, this Meredith."

Ella stood up, smiling politely, and held out her hand. "It's nice to finally meet you, Meredith."

Meredith cleared her throat, trying to clear her mind and speak fluently. "It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Shepherd."

"Please call me Ella," Ella smiled before she sat back down.

"You brought flowers," Derek pointed out as he noticed Mark standing and holding a floral bouquet. He chuckled and shook his head.

"I am afraid I didn't make a good first impression, so I needed to fix that," Mark answered and leaned forward as he wanted to kiss Meredith's hand. Meredith still didn't like or trust Mark, so she instinctively hid her hand to back.

Derek chuckled, a little embarrassed with Meredith's childish attitude and tried to push her arm forward and give her hand to Mark. "Mer," he whispered in her ear, more as a command.

Meredith gritted her teeth, faking a smile, and held out her hand. Mark took her hand and kissed it with courtesy, giving her then the flowers. Derek took the flowers from Meredith and put them in an empty chair beside them, before he held a chair out for her. Meredith felt calmer as she was now sitting between her father and Derek. As soon as Derek sat down as well, Meredith sneaked her hand under the table and looked for his. Derek gave it a gentle squeeze and smiled reassuringly at her.

"Are we ready to order?" Ella asked.

As they ordered their food and the waiter left, an uncomfortable silence fell over their table. This time, Derek reached under the table for Meredith's hand.

"Meredith," Meredith swallowed a lump and smiled nervously as Ella addressed to her. "I don't know much about you, but Derek told me you are a surgical intern at Seattle Grace." There were no other ways- for that unusual situation- to learn more about each other; therefore, work could be a good start.

"I am indeed," Meredith nodded.

"Tell me more about it. How have you been handling with this so far? Do you like it?" Ella asked.

"It's been only a month since I started working as surgeon and … it's exhausting, but in the same time, exhilarating. I love what I am doing," Meredith answered and slowly she started feeling more comfortable with Ella's presence.

"Have you chosen any specialty yet? A particular field you'd like to learn more?" Ella asked her.

"General surgery," Ellis cut in, answering for her. "That's my recommendation," she said, trying to justify her interruption.

"General surgery," Meredith answered, visibly irritated by her mother's words. "For the first year and then for my first year as resident, I think general surgery is the best option. I can make a choice later."

"That's very wise," Ella approved. "I am not a doctor and I don't have much knowledge about medicine, but I think it's better for a doctor to be good at about everything before becoming a specialist in a certain field."

"That's what I am saying," Meredith agreed.

"So… tell me more. How are you two working together?" Ella asked, this time her question was for Derek as well. "Adele told me you are her attending."

"We didn't have the chance to work together that much," Meredith answered. "For some reasons I am kept away from the neurological cases."

"How come?" Ella asked, confused.

"Richard is not very happy with our condition," Derek cleared that out.

"This can't be good for you, Meredith," Ella wrinkled her brows, displeased to hear that.

"It's not," Derek agreed with her.

"She needs to earn the surgeries," Ellis cut in, showing her disagreement toward their marriage again.

"I agree," Derek replied sharply. "They need to earn the surgeries based on their knowledge and Meredith has studied really hard to enter in this program. What Richard does is personal and not ethical."

"Did you try to talk to him?" Ella asked him.

"I did, but he wouldn't listen," Derek answered.

"Maybe if Meredith is assigned to a different resident, she would have the chance to scrub in more in the neuro cases," Ellis stated.

Derek glared as he heard her. "Dr. Bailey is the best resident from Seattle Grace and one of the best teachers. Meredith earned her right to learn from the best. Why switching residents when everything could solve easily if Richard gives up at his attitude."

At that point, the talk was heating up and the voices were rising from both sides, Derek and Ellis.

"Please, let's talk about this somewhere private," Ella said, putting a hand over her son's to calm him down first.

Derek sighed loudly and glancing at Meredith, he saw the stress on her face. Therefore, he decided to change the subject.

"How's life in New York?" he asked, looking at his mother and Mark.

"Same old, same old," Mark answered. "Much better than in rainy Seattle," he added with a chuckle. "Addison asked me to say hi."

"Mark," Ella cleared her throat, smiling nervously.

Meredith looked at Derek, questioning. His mother's reaction to Mark's words and Derek's uptight face made her suspect who was Addison.

Derek took Meredith's hand as he leaned in and kissed her cheek, whispering, "My very ex."

Meredith nodded, but from the glare in her eyes, Derek could tell she was still not happy to hear that from Mark. "Ok, so nothing new in New York," he concluded, closing that topic before Mark could make another inappropriate comment.

That being said, the silence fell awkwardly over their table again. In the meantime, the waiters brought them the food and for a while, they focused on their food. Glancing at Derek, Meredith noticed he was taking tiny bites and chewing slowly his food. She put her hand on his leg to have his attention and she leaned in to him.

"Are you still feeling sick to your stomach?" she asked him in whisper.

Derek smiled reassuringly and kissed her. "It feels much better than this morning."

"Sorry," she whispered apologetically.

Derek kissed her once more. "Don't worry. Do you feel like poisoning someone right now?" he whispered back and Meredith nodded, giggling. "Who?"

"Everyone," she whispered, smiling.

"It's not that bad," he smiled.

"It's not," she agreed.

"Hey, that's considered rude," Mark ended their whisper with a protest.

"This time I agree with Mark," Ella approved.

"Meredith cooked last night for the first time," Derek said, earning a nervous squeeze to his leg from Meredith.

"You cook?" Ellis asked, completely surprised.

"She poisoned you, didn't she?" Mark laughed mockingly.

"She's willing to learn and that's impressive," Derek retorted, glaring at his friend.

"That's a good thing. Not everyone succeeds the first time," Ella said, smiling encouragingly at Meredith.

"Actually I am not very willing to learn. I've just been on a trout diet for a month now and I am ready to experiment something new," Meredith answered, laughing.

Derek didn't taste her joke and glared at her. "Don't start again."

"I didn't say anything," Meredith replied defensively.

"You complained about my cooking again," Derek pointed out.

"No, I didn't,"

"You almost did it."

"Just a lovers' quarrel," Thatcher explained to the others as they stared at Meredith and Derek, surprised. "Did you have the chance to see the land they live on?" he asked Ella and ended their quarrel.

"No, I haven't seen it yet," Ella answered.

"You should. That place is magical," Thatcher said. "It still in the city, but it looks like you are far from it. It's not that far from the town though."

"You still haven't told us, Derek," Ella said, turning to Derek. "How come you are living in a trailer? Why didn't you rent an apartment?"

"The land is a gift from Meredith and we didn't have time to build anything there and we also didn't want to live in a tent. We both like the place, so a trailer is the best accommodation right now," Derek explained.

"How about you, Meredith? Do you like living in a trailer?" she asked Meredith.

"No," Meredith answered frankly. "But I like living on that land."

"Rewind," Mark cut in. "She bought you a land?" he asked, staring at them in awe. "She's rich?" he chuckled.

"We got married to Vegas, Mark," Derek rolled his eyes. "That means we also gambled. And Meredith proved to be very lucky."

"Wow," Mark breathed out, still in awe. "I want that too," he muttered.

"Do you want to win to gambling or get married to Vegas?" Derek asked him, bemused.

"Both," Mark chuckled. "I mean, I don't know why everyone thinks about this as a drama. I find it very original."

"Ignore him," Derek groaned. "His mother dropped him a lot when he was little."

"Let me guess," Meredith laughed. "In head."

Derek started laughing along with Meredith, while the rest looked amused.

"Who gets the land, the trailer and your money at divorce?" Mark mockingly asked Derek as answer to their joke.

The smile froze on their lips and Meredith and Derek looked at each other, confused. Neither of them had thought about that.

"Did you sign a pre-wed?" Ella asked him.

"They were drunk and they can't remember a thing from the ceremony," Ellis answered. "I doubt any of them thought about signing something like this.

"In case we divorce…" Derek wanted to explain, but Ellis interrupted him.

"In case? So you think you have a chance to stay married until death will do your part?" she asked ironically.

"We do," Derek answered firmly for both of them, taking Meredith's hand. "And if your concern is what's going to happen with the money in case of divorce, then let me tell you that I will give the land back to Meredith, I will sell the trailer and then we'll move on with our lives separately."

Derek noticed when Thatcher took Meredith's other hand and as he looked at her, he saw tears welling her eyes.

"This is getting very humiliating," Meredith muttered, looking down at her plate. She raised her look and glared at their families. "We are married now and there's nothing you can do about it. I like Derek; otherwise, we wouldn't have celebrated our first anniversary last night. I'm taking this marriage as a challenge and surprisingly, I am enjoying it very much. Mom, dad," she looked at her parents. "You know me very well. You know what kind of person I am. Mrs. Shepherd," she said, turning to Derek's mother this time. "I suppose you know your son very well. Just sit back and watch how this plays out. We are a family now and if any of you has any doubts about one of us, then you can talk to each other. You're both parents and you can guarantee for our seriousness. We know what we've done doesn't show this, but we are very serious. As I said… we wouldn't have celebrated our first month together if we weren't serious about this. Despite the fact that Derek sleeps on my favorite side of the bed, my snore bothers him, he smells like a fisherman when he returns to bed in the middle of the night, he wouldn't let me drive his new car, I hate our shower cabin and many others, we are still together and … I am very happy about it." Meredith took a deep breath as her speech left her breathless and sipped from her glass of wine, while glancing at each of them.

Derek took Meredith's hand and kissed it before he looked at their families, ready to sustain her words. "What she said," he stated, smiling.

Ella wiped her mouth and cleared her throat, ready to speak. "Meredith is right. We are a family now and there's nothing we can do about your marriage. I am not happy with this situation, but I can't see other way than complying with this. I wanted to see my only son and his wife walking down the aisle in a beautiful ceremony and I wanted grandchildren. I know grandchildren are out of discussion right now, so I just want to see you two happy."

"Ella, we share the same disappointment with you," said Thatcher. "Meredith never let me down and I am sure she will never do it."

"I guess I am the only negative character in this story," Ellis concluded. "I know my daughter," she finally admitted.

"I am staying in Seattle for a couple of days," Ella said. "Why don't we go out tomorrow? Just the three of us," she suggested, pointing to Meredith and Ellis.

Meredith gave a desperate squeeze to Derek's hand and Derek answered with an encouraging squeeze. Now when everyone seemed to accept their marriage, Derek wasn't afraid of having Meredith alone with his mother and hers.

"I have the morning off," Ellis answered.

"Meredith has the morning off as well," Derek said, earning another hard squeeze from Meredith.

"We could do some shopping and then lunch," Ella suggested.

"It's been a while since I last went to shopping," Ellis admitted.

Meredith looked, confused at her. "You never go to shopping," she pointed out.

"Not daily… or monthly," Ellis admitted. "But I do go shopping for clothes."

"That sounds like a great plan," Derek said excitedly, again receiving a hard squeeze from Meredith. He closed his eyes, wincing, and grabbed Meredith's hand. He laughed as he leaned to her and kissed her on the cheek while whispering, "That hurt."

"You should see how much I will suffer tomorrow," she whispered back.

"I guess we won't have any desert tonight," Mark chuckled.

Just then, Meredith and Derek realized how close they were and how they must have looked to the others. They were arguing, but whoever was watching them would have thought they were making out. Meredith pulled back, smiling embarrassed.

Dinner continued for a little longer, while Derek, Mark and Ellis talked about the newest surgical procedures. Derek insisted on paying for dinner and then everyone headed to the cars.

Derek grabbed Meredith's waist and pulled her to him, smiling as he dropped the key to his car in her palm.

"I can't believe you," Meredith giggled. She turned, facing him, and wrapped her arms around his neck while his hands braced behind her.

"You survived," Derek smiled and leaned down for a soft kiss.

"Let's see how I will make it through tomorrow," she grumbled, rolling her eyes. "Me … alone with two mothers," she winced and shuddered.

Derek let her go off his arms and took a step back as he fumbled through his pocket. He took out a wallet and pulled out of it a credit card. "To make you feel better," he smiled, handing her the credit card.

Meredith laughed and grabbed the credit card out of his hand. "You're not very smart."

Derek laughed and pulled her back into his arms. "I trust you."

Meredith wrapped her arms around his neck again and reached for his lips. "So, you're not afraid that I might take all your money in case of divorce?"

Derek brushed his lips against her before he answered. "No."

"That was unpleasant," she said with a murmur as she put her head down on his shoulder.

"I know," he smiled softly, kissing her on the forehead. "Let's go before it starts raining."

Meredith pulled back from his arms, nodding, and twisted the key in her hand, smirking at Derek. As she walked around the car, Meredith noticed some stares on them. Not far from their car, Ella and Mark, Ellis and Thatcher were watching them. Meredith looked away and cleared her throat. Derek looked at her and noticed the direction of her glance. He chuckled and waved at them as he opened the door.

"They forgot to tell you," Derek said as they both got inside the car.

"Tell me what?" she asked as she turned on the ignition.

"We've met before," he answered.

Meredith looked at him, confused. "I think I would have remembered Dr. Shepherd."

"No," Derek chuckled. "You can't remember."

"Was I drunk when we first met?" Meredith giggled.

"No," he laughed. "You were two."

Meredith stared at him, confused.

"You were 2 year-old when my mom and I came to Seattle and I had my appendicitis surgery. We met at the hospital," he explained.

"Seriously?" she giggled, surprised to find out that.

"I know," Derek laughed. "Now drive safe and don't hurt my car."

"I am a good driver," she hissed. As she started the car, another one passed in speed in front of theirs and Meredith pressed the break, causing the ignition to die. "It wasn't my fault!" she snapped when Derek glared at her. "I am good driver."

"Get off. I will drive,"

"No," Meredith twisted the key in the ignition and the car purred to life.

"Meredith," Derek groaned, annoyed.

"Ain't I your favorite wife?" she giggled teasingly before the car got off.

"You're my only wife," Derek smiled, rolling his eyes.

"Just checking. Oh and you still have some explanations to give me about your 'very ex'," she said, remembering when Mark mentioned Addison.

"She's my 'very ex'. Isn't this enough?"

"We're over our other issues. I need to have something to bug you with," Meredith smiled.

"Of course," Derek sighed.

"Oh, and Derek?" she glanced at him, smiling. "You don't really smell like a fisherman."

"I know. That was quite offending, you know,"

"Oh, and Derek?"

"Oh, Meredith?" Derek replied sarcastically. "Watch the road."


	24. Because I say so

**Chapter 24 – Because I say so**

Derek flipped the last pancake on the plate and brought the breakfast he had cooked, outside on the porch, where Meredith had set up the table.

"Breakfast is ready," he said and placed the plate on the table. Meredith was sitting there, looking absent-minded. Derek didn't notice that at first and took his jacket and his briefcase and he was ready to leave for work. He leaned down and kissed Meredith on the forehead. "Have fun today," he chuckled and climbed down from the porch.

As Meredith didn't say anything back, Derek glanced back at her and just then he noticed the blank stare on her face.

"Is something wrong?" he asked her and turned back to her.

Meredith nervously played with her watch around the wrist and frowned as she looked at Derek. "It's my mother's birthday today," she mumbled.

Derek looked at her, dumbfounded. "It's Ellis' birthday?"

Meredith slowly nodded. "I completely forgot about this. I mean, we rarely celebrate her birthday. Now I have no present for her."

Derek smiled genuinely and returned on the porch. He put the briefcase aside and crouched beside her chair. "You said you rarely celebrated her birthday, today she wants to celebrate it with her daughter. Besides, she doesn't look like a person eager for birthday presents."

Meredith shrugged. "She's not."

"I am still going to send her some flowers," Derek smirked. "It's very important to make a good impression to my mother-in-law, especially when she hates me so much already."

Meredith sighed and didn't bother to smile at what Derek wanted to be a joke.

Derek stood up and kissed the top of her head. "Now don't stress yourself so much."

"Spending the morning at shopping with two mothers can be very stressful," she grumbled.

"Call me if anything bad happens and I will come rescue you," he said, kissing her once more. "Now get up and walk your husband to his car. He needs a proper goodbye kiss."

Meredith rolled her eyes and took his hand. They walked to his car and after he threw his briefcase inside, Derek leaned against the car and pulled Meredith into his arms.

"It's so easy for you," Meredith sighed. "Why don't have to spend a morning with the mothers?"

"Because I spent the lunch," Derek replied with a chuckle. "I could spend a morning with your father."

"It's not the same," she rolled her eyes.

"And why is that?"

"Because you like my father," she pointed out.

"Don't you like my mother?"

Meredith shrugged. "I don't know."

"Seriously now, call me if you need me," Derek said, holding her face between his hands and smiling at her. He leaned in and caught her lips into a soft kiss. Meredith moaned and felt like she was melting in his arms, unwilling of letting him go just yet. Derek hugged her tighter and the kiss become more passionate, so passionate that none of them heard when a car stopped next to theirs.

They noticed the visitors, only when they heard a giggle.

"They don't have a decent house for a decent bed, so they're doing it where they can," Cristina commented ironically.

"Good morning you too, Cristina," Derek rolled his eyes.

"I think it's cute," Lexie giggled. "Hi," she smiled widely as she walked over to the place they were.

Meredith sighed and pulled away from Derek's arms. "Hi."

Derek wasn't very happy with the interruption either, though he knew guests would come, and reluctantly let go of Meredith. "Breakfast is ready," he told them with a smile. "And you can eat without worry, because I cooked," he laughed, earning a playful slap from Meredith.

"Hmm," Cristina smirked mischievously. "I am not very sure then," she added, mumbling.

"Sue me later," Derek groaned as he opened the door to his car, not in the mood of dealing with Cristina's sarcasm so early in the morning.

"If I survive," Cristina muttered.

Meredith glared at her friend and grabbing her hand, she pulled her onto the porch, while Derek drove away.

"You two are so cute together," Lexie beamed excitedly.

Meredith laughed, amused of Lexie's excitement.

Cristina leaned to Meredith, whispering in her ear. "I am not very sure yet, but I think she has taken _something_."

"Something?" Meredith asked, curios, looking back and forth at the two of them. Checking carefully on Lexie, Meredith did notice her weird smile and the new sparkle in her eyes. "High?" she asked Cristina, whispering.

"Slow," Cristina groaned. "You need to take a break from this marriage. It's slowing you down."

"You are such an unfriendly person, Cristina," Lexie scolded with a shake from her head. She sat down at the table, where the pancakes were still fuming, filling the air around with an aromatic flavor. "Derek is a rare man," she said with a sigh. Her nostalgic moment passed quickly and Lexie let out another excited giggle.

Meredith raised her brows as she watched Lexie. "Ok, now I am worried. Lexie, have you lost your mind?"

Lexie blushed instantly and started laughing, but didn't say anything.

"I told you so," Cristina grumbled as she sat down at the table. She took the fork and grabbed a few pancakes, disposing them in her plate.

Judging from the grin on her face, Meredith knew Lexie had something to share. "I think you would feel better if you speak now," Meredith suggested.

Lexie laughed again and nervously started playing with a napkin on her lap. "Oh Mer! I had the most amazing night!"

Meredith shook her head disapprovingly. "It doesn't matter how amazing the night is, Alex Karev is not an amazing man. He's playing with you and Izzie."

"It's not Alex," Lexie shook her head. "I met a guy last night at Joe's."

"That's a relief… I guess," Meredith sighed. "Ok, so you met a guy, huh?"

"Oh yes, Meredith! He is the most amazing man I've been with in whole freaking life!" she squealed.

Meredith couldn't help but laugh at Lexie's enthusiasm. "That's great, Lexie. How is he like? What's his name?"

Lexie smiled, biting her lip with guilt.

"You don't know his name," Meredith giggled. "Maybe you shouldn't be this enthusiastic then. You don't have big chances to meet him again. A one night stand stays a one night stand most of the times."

"That's right; most of the times," Lexie frowned. "I have my chances and I am telling you this… if I meet him again, then I will definitely ask him to take me to Las Vegas and marry me."

Meredith looked at Cristina, worried.

"I told you so," Cristina shrugged and muttered. "Drugged."

She looked back at her cousin and sighed. "I am seriously worried about you."

"Don't be," Lexie wanted to reassure her. "I am a big girl. I know what I am doing. Now I am not letting you ruin my good mood, so let's talk about your dinner."

Meredith gave her another disapproving look before she sighed and moved the topic to her dinner.

"It was ok, I guess," she muttered, staring at her empty plate with a frown on her face. "Actually it was horrible."

"What happened?" Lexie asked, worried.

Meredith looked frightened at Lexie. "They want to spend the morning with me at shopping," she whispered.

"Who?" her cousin asked, confused.

"The mothers. My mother and his mother. This morning. They want us to spend the morning together. Besides this, today is my mother's birthday and I completely forgot about it. And Derek is all supportive and hopeful. What does he know? He doesn't need to spend hours of shopping with our mothers. Why does it have to be this difficult?" Meredith trailed off.

"Shopping is not a bad thing. It can be fun," Lexie wanted to be supportive. "It is fun, actually."

"And it's my mother's birthday," Meredith repeated herself.

Cristina and Lexie looked at each other sympathetically for Meredith.

Meredith gasped as she read their looks. "You knew! You knew it was her birthday today."

"Don't be so harsh on yourself, Mer! You know she's not material," Lexie comforted her.

"What are we going to talk about? What are they going to talk about? I don't think my mother has other subjects of discussion besides the medical ones, or his mother doesn't know much about medicine."

"Mer," Lexie smiled, taking her hand as comforting gesture. "Let's enjoy this beautiful morning and this appealing breakfast that your wonderful husband cooked for us." She drew her hand off Meredith's and giggled to herself as she smiled at the table.

Meredith and Cristina looked at each other and shook their hands.

"She's going to get into a big shit," Meredith muttered and Cristina agreed with a nod.

**-------------**

Derek sprinted towards the elevators when he saw the Chief heading the same way. "Chief," he called after him and smiled as he stopped beside him.

"Shepherd," the Chief smiled. "How does your mother like Seattle so far?"

"She loves it. She loves it so much that I am afraid she might want to move here," Derek chuckled, joking.

The Chief lifted a brow. "You wouldn't want her to move here?"

"I would but not right now. Meredith would fill the divorce papers the next day," he laughed. "Maybe when the babies will come," Derek grinned.

"Big plans," The Chief muttered. "How do they get along?"

"Well, I hope. They were shopping together," he answered. "With Ellis."

The Chief let out a chuckle. "She rarely wants to celebrate her birthday."

Derek winced as Richard mentioned about her birthday and Richard looked at him questioningly.

"I sent her a bouquet of flowers," Derek said. "I didn't want to send her roses. I am sure she wouldn't have appreciated, so I sent her a mix of flowers. Do you think she will throw it to garbage when she will receive it?"

Richard laughed and shook his head. "I don't think so. She's not a bad woman, Derek, but you married to her only child without her consent or her knowledge. You can't blame her for her attitude toward you."

"I know, but we are married now and we are good together. The fact that we live in a trailer doesn't make us less serious as married couple,"

"Let's not talk about your marriage, because you already know what I think about it," Richard frowned. "By the way. Your charming friend hasn't showed up at work this morning."

"He found some company last night, so…" Derek smiled. "It wasn't Meredith's fault and you know you can't keep Sloan here if he doesn't want to stay. I said that because I had to help Meredith."

"See?" Richard spat. "You need to stop doing that. You can be married outside the hospital if you want to, but you need to stay Shepherd and Grey inside of it."

"But it wasn't Meredith's fault," Derek retorted. "Mark had an inappropriate behavior and she reacted like any other decent woman would react."

"Here's where she did wrong," Richard argued and both stepped inside the elevator as the rest of the passengers got off. "She should have reacted like a doctor not like any other decent woman."

"Richard, she's a woman before anything else. Are you accepting the sexual harassment?" Derek snapped, outraged by what Richard was saying.

"You're overreacting, Derek! I didn't say that," he retorted. "Now she came out clean from that and I am willing to forget that slap. Can we stop arguing?"

Derek was fuming of anger and he didn't want to stop, but the bell sounded, announcing their arrival to a new floor. They got quiet and adopted the professional pose.

The door opened and Meredith showed up in their view, looking surprised to see them in there. Richard rolled his eyes and looked away, annoyed, while Derek chuckled as he noticed Meredith's wardrobe.

"Hi," she greeted him with a shy smile as she stepped inside and walked in the back of the elevator.

Derek was a step behind Richard, so he could discreetly turn and look at Meredith, scanning her from the head to the toes. Her entire looked was changed. Her hair had curls and was left free over her shoulders; her wardrobe looked different too. She looked like she could hardly breathe in that tight red jacket and red skirt was covering her legs until under knees.

Derek stared at her, eyes wide open, and mouthed, "You're red."

Meredith rolled her eyes, expressing her despair, "I know," she mouthed back.

Derek chuckled quietly before he mouthed again, "Why?"

"Mothers," Meredith mouthed, gritting her teeth.

Derek started laughing mutually. "And you're taller," he mouthed, smirking down at her shoes. "Vamp!" he teased her.

Meredith quietly snapped her teeth and showed him her nails, which made Derek crack up into laughter, hardly fighting against making any noise. Meredith mutually started laughing with him. "I am so going to kill you."

Derek smirked, obviously thrilled with her threatening.

In all this time, Richard stayed uptight, completely unaware of the interaction between the She and He Shepherd. The elevator announced their arrival to a new floor, so both of them stopped and watched how Richard stepped outside.

As the door closed behind him and the elevator started moving again, Derek pressed the hold button, pulling Meredith into his arms in the same time. "My sexy vamp," he chuckled, nuzzling through her hair.

They both jumped scared and pulled apart when a loud thud hit against the doors. "Let the elevator go!" they heard Richard's nervous shout.

"Damn it," Derek cursed under his breath and hurried to do as Richard said, knowing it wasn't prudent to piss him off even more. "So how it was?" he asked Meredith.

Meredith sighed. "It was the weirdest experience of my life."

"Weirder than our wedding?" Derek laughed.

"Nearly as weird as our marriage," she answered with a giggle.

Derek gave another long look to her new wardrobe and laughed as the door opened and they stepped outside. They started walking down the hall, heading towards the same direction. Derek walked right behind her and as none was around, he grabbed Meredith's elbow and both disappeared into an on call room.

"Derek, are you crazy?" Meredith snapped angrily. "What if someone saw us?"

Derek smirked smugly at her and went to sit down on a bed. "Nobody did, so come and relax," he said, patting the seat next to him.

Meredith folded her arms across her chest, glaring at him.

Derek chuckled, raising his brows as he scanned her new image again. "You have to stop with this posture, because we don't have enough time for you know…" he finished his sentence with a smirk full of lust.

Meredith giggled and relaxed as she walked over to the bed and sat down beside him.

"Should I start get used to your new wardrobe?" Derek asked and smiled at her as he brushed the hair off her shoulder.

"You're not very thrilled with the idea," she noticed.

Derek smiled as he carefully looked into her eyes. He knew she wasn't very thrilled with it either. "I like it," he admitted. "But I think you should use it for later years when I may not work properly," he laughed and made Meredith giggle as well.

"It was your mother's idea. I have another serious-married-woman costume on navy," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "Mom said I should be more sober while your mom said I should always look appealing for my husband."

Derek burst into laughing, shaking his head. "My mom said that? I don't believe you," he kept laughing when Meredith answered with a shake from her head. "You look _very_ appealing," he agreed. "But not just to me, so my mom wasn't very helpful. Tell me more. How did they get along? What did you talk about?"

"I didn't talk much. You know me," Meredith said matter-of-factly and laughed, slapping Derek when he mocked her with sarcastic nod from his head. "They talked and _contradicted_," she said, emphasizing on the last word, "Over our future. Your mom said we should give ourselves some time to know each other better and then … produce _something_."

"Something?" Derek asked, confused.

"Babies," Meredith cleared that out, rolling her eyes. "She thinks you're too old so we should…"

"But I am not old," Derek frowned.

Meredith giggled and agreed with him. "Yet," she teased him. "Anyway," she added quickly when Derek was ready to protest again. "She thinks I could handle both jobs, but my mom disagreed. My mom said you should have thought twice before getting married to a younger woman."

"So your mom thinks I am old too?" he snapped.

"Get over this," Meredith hissed, annoyed. "My point is…"

"I don't have anything to get over and my point is that I am not old," Derek was going to let go so easily after such an offense.

Meredith jumped up and lifting her skirt upper, she mounted him and crashed her lips against his. As his hands grasped into her hair and her tongue thrust inside his mouth, Meredith could feel him growing in his pants.

"Mmm…" she moaned into his mouth and pulled back. "You're a baby," she teased him and stood up, leaving him lay on the bed with an exasperated look on his face. "My point is," she said, rearranging her skirt. "They disagreed with each other but they didn't argue. Then we shopped. For me. Actually, they shopped for me. Then they kept talking and surprisingly, they stopped talking about us. Now here comes the weirdest part. They talked about politic; about Obama and McCain and they laughed and giggled. My mom giggled."

Derek tried to keep up with what Meredith was saying, but her previous attempt of proving his mandhood let him slightly frustrated and unsatisfied. He sat at the edge of the bed and took Meredith's hand, pulling her down beside him. "Sometimes people do giggle," he said and lightly stroking her cheek, he leaned in and kissed her lips. "I am relieved to see you here and safe."

Meredith kissed him back and let out a soft moan. "I know what you want Derek, but I have to get out of these clothes and find Bailey."

Derek grinned at her words and his fingers slid between the buttons of her jacket. "I could help you get out of these."

Meredith held his hand, laughing. "And send me naked to Bailey?" she cupped his face and her lips lingered brushing against his. She sighed and reluctantly pulled back. "I should go now," she said, but didn't move.

Both of them stayed there, looking into each other's eyes.

"Go," he whispered.

**-------------**

Meredith was sitting down at the nurses' station, updating some charts, when Dr. Bailey came to drop something to the nurse.

"Are you done with those?" she asked Meredith.

Meredith nodded and shut the chart she was writing in. "This was the last one."

"Did you get to read about Ms. Cane's case?" she asked her.

"She's the girl with the tumor on her carotid and semi-paralysis to her right arm," Meredith answered and Dr. Bailey confirmed with a nod. Meredith took a chart out of the stack and handed it to Dr. Bailey. "This is it."

Dr. Bailey flipped it open and read Meredith's notes, nodding pleased with her updates. "Her parents decided she wanted the surgery this tonight, so we're going to talk to them and maybe you get yourself with a case."

Meredith smiled and quickly stood up. It weren't many the times she had the opportunity to be in the same OR with Derek and she was very excited about working with him. It wasn't because he was her husband now, but Derek proved to be a good teacher.

When they got into the patient's room, the place was already crowded; the girl's parents were beside her, Derek, Burke and the Chief were there, same as Bailey's interns. Bailey asked Meredith to talk about the case and Meredith answered to her questions without hesitation.

"Thank you, Dr. Grey," the Chief said and took the chart from Meredith. "Dr. Stevens, read it and you'll be joining us in the OR," he said and dropped the chart in Izzie's arms. "I'll see you later," he smiled briefly at his young patient before he turned and walked out of the room, ignoring the surprise looks from the others' faces.

Meredith and Derek were surprised too, though they knew why she didn't get the permission to scrub in. Despite surprised, Derek was angry as well. He hurried outside after Richard.

"You need to stop with this," he warned him. Richard stopped and turned to him, acting clueless. "When are you going leave your personal problems outside the hospital?" Derek retorted to his expression, telling him the same thing Richard had told him earlier that day in the elevator.

"I don't need to give you any explanation about my judgment," Richard retorted with the authority of a chief.

"Don't give me any explanation. Give it to the board after I report this situation to them. You have no proof that I favored Meredith Grey. Every surgery she earned in my OR, she earned it because of her knowledge and skills and not because she's my wife!" Derek blared out and gasps followed his words, coming from the audience gathered to watch the conflict between the Chief and his Head of Neurological department. As he glanced back at them, Derek only saw Meredith's shocked expression. Just then he realized he had revealed their secret. "If you can't accept this, then you're not half of the man I thought you were," Derek added quietly, without looking at him this time.

Richard watched him for a longer moment before his head jerked up and glared at the audience. "Back to your business now!"

Meredith barely managed to make her feet move. She kept her look down as she slowly started walking away, feeling everyone's stares piercing her skull. She didn't know what was worse now: not being allowed in Derek's surgeries or having the whole hospital know about her as Mrs. Shepherd.

Her feet trailed and led her to the nearest on call room. She walked into the darkness and closed the door behind her, sliding down against it. Meredith pulled her knees to her chest and sunk her head between them, exhausted. Why did they have to care about what their parents say? Why did they have to care about what people say? Why did people have to care about their marriage? Questions ran inside her head, making her angrier with each new one.

She felt the door moving against her back and then she heard the knock and Derek's soft voice, "Meredith?"

Meredith sighed and leaned her head against the door. From all the people, Meredith couldn't blame Derek for anything. He was aware of their mistakes and always wanted to make it easier for them, encouraging her when her father slapped her, when Lexie insulted her, when her mother turned her back on her. She needed his comfort this time too.

She stood up and walked out of the doorway. Derek walked inside and closed the door.

"Meredith," he pleaded her softly when she didn't look up at him and held out his hand.

Meredith felt she was ready to break down. She took his hand and Derek pulled her into a tight embrace.

"I am sorry," he said softly against her hair as Meredith burst into tears in his arms. "I am so sorry," he murmured, gently rubbing her back with his hand.

"Why…," a sob broke her voice as she took a step back from his arms. "Why does it have to be this complicated for us? Cristina is sleeping with Burke and she always assists to his surgeries. Why nobody tells them anything?"

Derek listened to what she was saying, stunned. "Burke and Cristina are sleeping together?" he burst out nervously.

Meredith froze, stopping from crying when she realized what she had done. "That's a secret," she muttered.

Derek shook his head, disagreeing. He wrapped his arms around Meredith and walked her to the bed, kneeling in front of her. "His son is allowed to screw his intern and have her in his surgeries, but I am not allowed to be married to my intern and have her work with me from time to time? This is not fair, Meredith."

"I know," Meredith frowned. That upset her the most. "But it was supposed to be a secret."

Derek smiled and shook his head. Of course she would put her friendship with Cristina before anything else.

"Why does it have to be this complicated for us?" she asked.

"It won't be like this anymore. I promise," he reassured her, softly smiling at her.

"How do you know?" she asked quietly.

"Because I say so," he answered and chuckled when Meredith rolled her eyes. "Because I will talk to the board tomorrow. I don't care about Burke and Cristina. I care about us and I will solve this problem once for all."

Meredith looked into his eyes and sighed as she ran her fingers through his hair. "I could get a transfer to another hospital."

"No," Derek shook his head. "This is the best hospital."

"What if the board suggests the same thing?" she pointed out.

Derek had an answer immediately. "I will transfer to another hospital."

Meredith answered with a faint smile. "You're good at announcing things," she said. "I should learn more about it from you. I want something special for the day I'll announce you that I am pregnant," she giggled.

"Try and find something more original," Derek smiled and reached up for her lips, kissing them softly. "I didn't mean to let everyone know," he said apologetically.

She reassured him with a smile. "Do you think nurse Rose was around?"

Derek laughed, shaking his head. "You seem obsessed with this woman. I don't even know how she looks like."

Meredith gasped and glared at him. "Why are you lying?"

"Meredith," he chuckled, but stopped quickly when he saw how serious her glare was. "I am not lying!"

"Of course you're lying!" Meredith snapped angrily. "She's one of your scrub nurses."

Derek closed his eyes and groaned. He looked at Meredith and smiled. "See? That's why I am a brilliant surgeon; because when I am in surgery, I only stay focused on my patient."

Meredith rolled her eyes. He had a point with that.

"I have an idea," he said. "When we'll get to our 6th month anniversary, we should start planning a second wedding and two weeks of honeymoon somewhere on an island."

"If we don't sign the divorce papers in the meantime," she pointed out.

"Obviously," he smiled.

Absent-minded, neither of the noticed they were holding their hands folded onto Meredith's lap. Meredith was the first one who noticed that and smiled down at their hands. "I so need two weeks of honeymoon on an island right now," she sighed.

Derek sighed and leaned his head against their hands, "Me too."

That's how Dr. Bailey found them when she opened the door a minute later. She looked at them for a brief second and then she spoke, "Dr. Grey, we're waiting for you in the OR. You too, Dr. Shepherd."

Dr. Bailey left as quiet as she came, leaving Meredith and Derek looking at each other, confused.

"Maybe you don't have to move to another hospital," she said.

Derek smiled and stood up, helping her up as well. "It's getting less complicated. If Richard lets us work together in the same hospital, then it will get easier, you'll see."

Meredith put her hands on his chest as she leaned on him. "Because you say so," she smiled at him.

"Because I say so," he answered and gently held her face in his hands as he kissed her. "Think about our two weeks honeymoon."

"On that island," she smiled.

"Aren't you feeling braver now?" he chuckled.

Meredith sighed and pulled away. "No. I am just feeling hornier. Let's go rock the OR," she said, gathering her hair in a messy bun.

"Let's go," Derek chuckled and followed her outside.

He had just walked out of the room when his phone rang. They both stopped and waited until Derek took out his phone.

"Go ahead," he smiled at her, hiding his anxiousness after he had read the caller's ID. He watched Meredith leaving, and when he was sure she couldn't overhear, Derek answered. "Dr. Grey."

"Dr. Shepherd," Ellis answered. She didn't sound cold or professional as he was used to hear her, but she didn't sound kind or happy either. She was just as Richard had said she was, a lady. "Thank you for the flowers. That was nice of you."

Derek had his jaw hanging. It was getting less complicated indeed. "Happy birthday, Mrs. Grey," he said.

"Thank you," she answered and a brief, uncomfortable silence followed. "Goodbye, Derek!"

"Goodbye, Mrs. Grey," Derek smiled and listened as the conversation ended. If Ellis Grey had called him by his first name, then things were definitely getting less complicated.

-------

**N/A:** Just a short note: Meredith has no reason of worry because of Rose. I just think it's cute how she freaks out when she thinks about her. Thank you for reading. I hope you liked it!


	25. Friendly muffins

**N/A: I've been out of inspiration lately, therefore I couldn't bring this chapter up sooner. I am sorry for the delay and I hope the next chapter will be done faster.**

**Enjoy! "Friendly muffins"**

**--------**

Meredith gazed out the window at the rain that dripped down the car's window and listened to its song against the hood. She held her hands onto her lap and played with the watch around her wrist. When Derek put his warm hand over hers, Meredith stirred out of her trance.

"You're worried?" Derek glanced at her for a brief second, not leaving the road out of his sight.

Meredith shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, "Why would I be worried?"

Derek slowed down the speed to be able to look at Meredith, "Because this is the first time we drive together at work."

Meredith sighed and leaned her head against the window, "No. Maybe a little," she muttered under her breath.

Derek gave a gentle squeeze to her hands and then focused his attention on the road. "Let them talk. We'll keep doing what you've done so far."

Meredith just looked at him and slowly nodded her head. As she looked out the window again, Meredith was surprised to see that Derek was pulling the car in the hospital parking lot already. She drew in more air and unfastened her seatbelt. Suddenly, all the worries faded and an unexpected smile lightened up her face. Maybe it was because of what Derek had said or because the sun was sneaking through clouds and rain, lightening the sky in different shades of blue.

Derek chuckled, surprised to see her sudden change of mood. "Don't tell me you are excited about us being seen together."

Meredith just smiled and opened the door, leaving Derek starring after her with a shocked surprise. He kept watching her until Meredith was at his side, waiting for him to come out of his trance. Derek nervously chuckled and got out of the car. He locked the car and offered her his hand.

Meredith giggled and took it as they started walking towards the entrance. They both looked comfortable with their new position in the vision of the hospital staff and smiled at each stare of their co-workers. They stepped into the elevator together, where just a doctor was, and Derek pulled Meredith close to him.

"That's your floor," Derek stated with a smile when the elevator stopped and the door opened.

"I will see you later," she smiled and stepped outside.

She was still smiling when she walked in the locker room and absent mindedly giggled as she got to her locker room, not noticing the curious stares of her friends yet. Of course she was giggling; she had just passed along the hallways with one, hand in hand with one of the hottest doctors around.

"She's still newly wed," Izzie's chuckle had her attention. "I can't believe you didn't tell me that Shepherd was your husband. I thought we were friends."

Meredith's bright look darkened instantly as she glared at Izzie. For no reason she didn't like Izzie. "We are not friends," she huffed, and now, Izzie's mood wasn't bright either.

"So this is who you really are. You're Shepherd's wife," Izzie laughed bitterly. "How could you be friends with the rest of us, some idiot interns, right?"

"In this hospital I am not Shepherd's wife and I am not Ellis' Grey daughter either," she snapped, looking at all the interns that were watching the scene with envy in their eyes.

"I didn't care about the fact that you were Ellis' Grey daughter or Shepherd's wife," Izzie snapped back. "I wanted us to be friends because we were going to spend a lot of time in this hospital and because I am a good friend of your cousin Lexie. I wanted to be friends because I am a friendly person. Obviously, you don't consider us good enough to be your friends," saying that, Izzie turned on her heels and stomped to her locker.

Meredith remained mute at what Izzie said. As she met Cristina's reproachful glance, Meredith felt bad for her constant bitchiness toward Izzie. She threw her bag and her jacket in the locker and went across the room, leaning against the lockers.

"I am not very friendly and you are…," Meredith paused, looking for the right words, "…a little too friendly for me. I hold nothing against you and I definitely don't think that you're an idiot intern. Lately I've been more idiot than anyone else in this room."

Izzie sighed and turned to look at Meredith, "I am too friendly for you."

Meredith bit her lip and nodded slowly.

Izzie chuckled and took out of her locker a muffin, "A friendly muffin?"

Meredith smiled and nodded as she took the muffin from Izzie.

"Let me know if my muffin is too friendly for your taste too," Izzie laughed, already regaining her good spirit.

As she took a bite from Izzie's muffin and walked back to her locker, Meredith noticed Lexie was missing.

"Where's Lexie?" she asked, looking at Cristina and then at Izzie.

Cristina just shrugged while Izzie answered, "She had the day off yesterday. I haven't seen her since the other night when we went to Joe's."

"When was the last time you talked to her?" Meredith asked her.

Izzie became a little worried by Meredith's question, "At Joe's," she answered quietly.

Meredith frowned and started biting her lip, thoughtful. Until no long time ago, Meredith knew everything about her family and friends; she knew the hour they were bathing, sleeping or even having sex. She used to know how to track Lexie down, without even calling her. Now, with her marriage and Derek's mother visiting them, she stopped wondering about her family and friends. She took out her phone and dialed Lexie's number. As the number dialed, her voicemail went on. Meredith decided not to leave her a massage, so she hung up and tossed it the pocket of her jeans.

"That's weird," she muttered under her breath, knowing Lexie was never late for work and almost never had the phone off. She started dressing for work and decided not to stress herself with that right away.

Meredith had smooth morning that day. She and Derek watched their patient's pre-op evolution and the rest of the time she had free, she up-dated her charts.

For noon, the plan was to have lunch with the other interns in the patio. As she was free already, Meredith decided to go ahead in the patio and wait for her friends while reading a medical journal. She tucked the magazine under her arm and headed for the elevators. She wanted to step inside when Ella wanted to step outside but she stop as she saw Meredith.

"Meredith. Hi," she smiled.

Meredith was surprised to see Ella, but she didn't feel as stressed as she used to feel until no long time ago, "Hi. Are you here to see Derek?" she asked and stepped outside, letting the elevator go without her.

"Yes. Actually, I am looking for Mark," she explained. "We were supposed to have dinner last night, but he didn't show up in his room or even call."

Meredith knew less than Ella did. "I haven't seen him since our dinner that evening."

"Derek has to know," Ella sighed, with that expression of a disappointed mother. "I will tie him a leash next time we go together somewhere," she said and giggled at Meredith.

Meredith laughed and agreed with a nod, "You should have done this the moment the plane landed in Seattle."

"I guess I should have," Ella laughed as well.

"Derek was paged for a consult," Meredith explained. "And I was heading for lunch."

Ella smiled expectedly.

Meredith smiled, sighing discreetly, and looked back at Ella, "Would you like to join me?"

"If you don't mind," Ella smiled.

Meredith smiled back, not entirely heartedly, "I don't mind," she smiled and pointed to the elevator.

Both women bought some food and sat down to a table, in a private corner, yet able to see who was leaving and who was coming in.

"How is it going with Richard?" Ella asked her. "Adele told me about the fight he had with Derek the other day."

Meredith put aside the magazine and ripped off the wrapper from her sandwich, "It's getting better. I got to assist Derek," she sighed and looked at Ella, "I am not looking for any favor. They can assign me to other neuro surgeon if they want to, but I need practice in neurology."

"I know that, Meredith," she wanted to reassure of whatever Meredith thought she was believed about the whole situation. "Your relationship," she started saying, but she looked like she had used the right word. "Your marriage or … convention, took everyone by surprise. You don't get to hear about things like this everyday and we certainly hadn't expected to hear about Derek doing it. Anyway, I am glad it's getting easier with Richard," she stopped for a moment to take a breath and went on, "I don't know what to think about this. I still don't know, though I've been in Seattle for nearly 5 days already and I've spent some time with you two and even with your family. One thing I see," she stated and smiled kindly at Meredith. "Derek is… very into this relationship; very committed to this … marriage. I see him… happy with the situation. I don't know how long this will last, but I know I don't want to see him miserable because of it." Her last words, kind though, sounded like a warning as well.

Meredith just listened to Ella and didn't have any reply to that. Her attention was soon distracted as she met Nurse Rose's glare as she passed past their table.

"What do you think about her?" Meredith asked Ella, still following Rose with her gaze. "Does she look like she could be Derek's wife?" she asked and, this time, she looked at her mother-in-law.

Ella saw who she was talking about, but she couldn't help but stare at Meredith. "Have heard a word from what I said?" she asked, sounding disappointed.

Meredith looked at her, clueless.

"You're underestimating yourself, I see. That's not good," Ella shook her head. "It's not good for you and it's not good for your marriage. Derek likes confident women," she stated.

Ashamed, Meredith looked down at her tray and slowly picked the sandwich up, taking a small bite.

"I don't know if she would be a better wife for my son. I don't know if you are the best woman for him. I don't know anything about you, so how could I know who is the best," Ella stated, wanted to answer her question.

"Who is Addison?" Meredith asked. "I mean, I know she's his ex, but…" she stopped and didn't dare to go on with the question.

"They were together for 10 years and engaged for 2," Ella answered, guessing her question.

Meredith stared at her, dumbfounded, and felt her cheeks burning of surprise, jealousy and sadness.

"He's older than you," Ella said, reading her face. "And she's definitely part of his past," she added.

"Oh," was all she could mutter in attempt of looking down at her tray and hiding her flush. "How about… Derek's sisters?" she asked. "What do they think about this?"

Ella chuckled at her question, "You don't want to know. "

Why was she surprised? Meredith asked herself.

A shadow stopped in front of their table and Meredith looked up to see Cristina glaring at her.

"We need to talk," Cristina hardly kept her tone low as she furrowed her brows.

Meredith was confused. Cristina looked mad; and she looked mad of her. "I am having lunch," she said.

"I won't keep you long," Cristina said, using the same cold tone, and turned around, waking ahead.

Meredith stood up, looking at Ella apologetically, and followed Cristina. She was even more confused as Cristina walked out of the patio and led their way back into the hospital, into a supply closet.

"What's going on?" Meredith demanded.

Cristina turned, arms folded across her chest, and looked at her, "What's going on?" she laughed sarcastically. "It happens that your lovely husband told Webber about me and Burke."

"What?" Meredith asked, shocked. "That's impossible."

"Oh, let me disagree," Cristina smiled sarcastically. "That's very possible."

Meredith still could not believe what she heard was true. "He said he wouldn't…"

"Why did you tell him in the first place?" Cristina cut her off, yelling at her. "This was OUR secret and when we share secrets to each other, we keep them for ourselves!"

"I…I am sorry, Cristina! I didn't mean to. It just… slipped out," Meredith stammered.

"Slipped out, huh?" Cristina laughed bitterly. "You never slipped out any secret until now. Until you had to share it with your precious husband. You can do whatever you want with him and you can talk to him about whatever you want, but you do not share our secrets with him!"

"I said I was sorry!" Meredith insisted.

Cristina shook her head and headed for the door. Before she opened it, she looked back at Meredith, "I never thought you would put our friendship on the second place. Especially to replace me with your so-called husband." With those words, Cristina left the supply room.

--------------

Derek quickly ran through rain, from the car to the trailer, shaking off the rain as he got inside to warmth. He took off his jacket and ran his fingers though his hair, rearranging it.

"I should have pulled the car closer to the trailer," he said as he stepped inside their small kitchen. As he filled himself a glass with water, Derek noticed what Meredith was doing in there.

She had her back turned on him and looked like she was mixing something into a bowl.

Derek had to admit that he was impressed with Meredith's tenacity. Despite this, he still believed he could teas her a little bit about her cooking skills. "What are you doing there?"

Meredith didn't answer right away, but when she did it, she answered in a flat voice, "Friendly muffins."

Derek started laughed as he heard that, "Will your friendly muffins be friendly enough to pay for a new kitchen?"

Meredith didn't answer in any way to his teas and Derek noticed that. He realized something was going on with Meredith just then, as she hadn't turned to look at him once since he came home.

He had had the feeling that Meredith avoided him a couple of times that day, but he believed it was because of the hectic day they had had in the emergency room. The tone of her voice and her cold attitude made Derek believe she had avoided him from a different reason.

"What's wrong?" he asked her. Meredith didn't answer. She threw the spoon in the bowl and poured more flour. "You don't seem in the mood for baking friendly muffins. I'd rather believe that you're baking madly muffins."

"Go tease someone else, Derek. I am not in the mood," she grumbled.

Derek sensed she was in one of her bad moods, so he just grabbed her by the elbow and spun her around.

Meredith glared at him and then, down at his grip. Derek let go of her elbow and took a small step back.

"I still don't understand you," Derek stated, shaking his head.

Meredith shrugged and turned her back on him. "I can't understand you either," she grumbled. "I thought I did, but I was wrong."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded, frustrated with her mood.

Meredith pushed the bowl away and turned to him, "It means that I trusted you. I thought I could trust you."

"And you can still trust me!" Derek frowned.

"Really," Meredith laughed sarcastically. "So, are you going to deny that you told Richard about Cristina's secret?"

Derek sighed and looked away; leaning against the sink, as he understood what was all about.

"I told you my best friend's secret and you ran and told it to the Chief!" she scolded.

"Let's not dramatize," he said with calm, though it was obvious in his voice that he wasn't happy with Meredith's reproach.

Meredith shrugged and turned her back on him again, "Of course we shouldn't dramatize. It wasn't you who betrayed your friend's trust."

Derek sighed as he knew she had a point with that. "I am sorry I had to reveal your friend's secret."

Meredith spun around, with a deep glare in her eyes, "You had to?"

"I had to," Derek frowned. "Richard had to see how unfair he was to us. His son is much worse than he thinks I am."

"Things have started calming at work. You had no reason in telling Richard about Cristina and Preston. What? Are you jealous because of them?"

"Admit it. You were at least a little bit jealous," Derek said. "You had to be when you saw your friend scrubbing to most of his surgeries, while you couldn't get any closer to the neurology."

Meredith was quiet for a brief second, which showed Derek he was right about that. "She's my best friend, Derek. This is why I decided to keep the secret. That's what friendship is about."

"Meredith," he softened his voice, trying to loose the tension between them. "I had to make sure it wouldn't repeat again."

"I am sure it won't," she retorted. "You warned him you would talk to the board if he had continued." She got quiet and took a deep breath. "I am not mad because Cristina is not talking to me. At some point she will forgive me. It pisses me off the fact that she's mad of me because of you and because … I thought I could share any secret with you."

Derek made a few steps and closed the space between them as he pulled her by her waist into his arms. "I am sorry," he apologized sincerely.

"That was a serious secret; a big secret," Meredith scolded, though her voice wasn't as tough as before.

Derek let his arms drop off and sighed, "You should stop worrying so much about what Cristina says about us or about me. As you said it, she will forgive you at some point."

"Cristina is my friend; my best friend. She's my person. Of course I care what she thinks about us. I want her to like you."

"I don't want her to like me," Derek disagreed. "It's enough if you like me."

Meredith looked away and didn't reply to that. "Isn't enough if you like me?" Derek asked, almost in disbelief.

"I have friends, Derek, and if you don't get along with them, then… it will be kind of difficult," she said.

"Difficult for whom?" he asked her, already not liking what she was saying.

"Why are we having this conversation anyway?" she frowned.

"Why?" Derek laughed sarcastically. "Because apparently, you've been avoiding me as much as possible today, especially when we could have spent some time alone. Then I come home and find you pouting and baking your so-called friendly muffins. And you're mad of me."

"You shouldn't have revealed Cristina's secret," Meredith just glared, not having other reply for him.

"This is about Cristina, huh?" Derek shook his head disappointedly. "Again. I am sorry I betrayed your trust. I did it for you."

"You shouldn't have," she huffed.

"Let's stop here, because we're going nowhere with this fight," Derek stated. "One advice I have for you; you should stop worrying so much about what your friend Cristina says or thinks about you. You have a husband now and what he thinks and says it's much more important. Besides, are you sure she worth it this fight? You say she will forgive you at some point, but you're not very sure, aren't you?"

Meredith looked at him, not believing she was hearing those words from him. "I met her many years ago and I met you a month ago."

"So, despite the fact that we are husband and wife now and we've been through so much together and we are heading to our second anniversary, you still have more trust in Cristina than you have in me," Derek shook his head.

Meredith folded her arms across her chest and stayed uptight as she looked at him, "You would better not ask me."

Derek stared at her for a moment and then he turned around, shaking his head. He picked his jacket up and headed for the door.

"Are you leaving?" She asked him, being the first time he walked away after a fight.

Derek stopped in the doorway, but he didn't look back at her as he spoke, "My mom is leaving tomorrow, so I rather spend the rest of the evening with her."

Meredith refused to believe he was really walking away so easily. Usually, after each fight they had, they stayed and talked, solving whatever misunderstanding. She believed him when she heard his car driving away from their land.

---------

Meredith knocked once and waited for someone to come and open the door. She knocked again, louder this time. She heard Izzie's voice and waited for her to greet her.

"Hey," Izzie smiled, surprised to see Meredith. "Come on in," she opened the door wider, inviting her inside the apartment. "Cristina is in kitchen. We're trying to decide what alcohol should knock us out this evening," she giggled.

As Izzie led their way to the kitchen, she also spotted the paper bag Meredith was holding.

"I made muffins," Meredith said and handed them to her. "Friendly muffins."

"Friendly muffins?" Izzie laughed and took the bag out of her hand. "Thanks. I will put them into a basket."

As they stepped into the kitchen, Meredith saw Cristina sitting at the table and closely analyzing three bottles of alcohol. She looked up, a little surprised to see Meredith there.

"I brought friendly muffins," Meredith mumbled and Cristina lifted a brow still wondering. "Husbands suck."

Cristina sighed and nodded. "Boyfriends suck too."

"Alex sucks too," Izzie cut in.

Both, Meredith and Cristina looked at her, obviously expecting for details. Izzie had quickly finished arranging the muffins into a basket and brought it to the table.

Cristina shook her head and pushed the basket aside, "After I get drunk. I am not brave enough right now."

Izzie took a seat across from them and sighed as she picked a muffin, "Alex is a cheating bastard. He is cheating me with a nurse."

Meredith and Cristina shared a knowing look as they knew some bit about that.

"I bet that nurse would say he is cheating on her with a fellow intern," Meredith sighed.

Izzie sighed again and took a mouthful of muffin, "I think I will try some tequila. Men suck and when they suck," she stopped, covering her mouth to let the muffin stay inside. She swallowed and continued, "When they suck, they suck badly and we need something very fast to help us forget them."

"Tequila," was the unanimous choice for all three of them.

Izzie stood up and brought three shot glasses at the table, while Cristina filled them.

"Salt and lime?" Izzie asked them, but both of them shook their heads.

"Stronger sensations," Meredith smirked.

Izzie nodded with a grin, "I am all for stronger sensations."

Meredith and Cristina didn't have any trouble swallowing the whole liquid, but Izzie only took a sip and suddenly her face turned bright red and crumpled in grimace.

"Amateur," Meredith and Cristina laughed at each other.

In her madly hurry of dying the heat off, Izzie put her head inside the refrigerator and looked for a lemon. While Izzie tried to calm down the unpleasant sensation, Meredith and Cristina poured themselves one more shot.

"I'm sorry I told Derek your secret," Meredith muttered down at her glass.

Cristina nodded slowly, also looking down at her glass, "Burke wants us to become official."

Meredith looked at her and frowned apologetically, "I am so sorry."

Cristina shrugged, looking tired. "Burke's girlfriend. How does this sound?"

At that question, Meredith and Cristina started when Izzie choked with the lime slice she was eating. Her eyes were wide opened as she stared at Cristina, shocked. "You and Burke?!"

Cristina looked at Meredith and then at the bottle of tequila as she poured herself one more shot, downing it swiftly.

Izzie returned to the table with lime and salt and took her previous seat across from them. "I don't know anything about people around me," she muttered, filling her glass with tequila.

"You don't know all about them and trust me, that is enough," Meredith stated. "This was one of the reasons why I stayed away from you the first time. You seem that kind of person who likes to know everything about the people's private life."

"But I am not passing it forward," Izzie wanted to point out.

"This means that I can tell you how Meredith met Shepherd the day she arrived in Seattle and the next day they were drunk in Vegas and got married," Cristina spoke so quickly that Meredith didn't have time to understand what she was saying and stop her.

"Cristina," she hissed.

"That's fair now," Cristina pointed out how Meredith herself had revealed her secret to Derek.

Izzie was staring at them in awe, "What planet are you two coming from?"

Meredith burst into laugher, "Exactly! But hey, that's us."

"Wow," Izzie managed to breathe out. "And you two are still married?" she asked Meredith.

Meredith nodded, but then she let out a sigh, "I think it's getting closer to the end."

"A month is a record, considering the circumstances you two got married," Cristina stated.

Meredith didn't like so much the sound of her own words. Sadly she played with her empty glass and her thoughts ran towards Derek. Was her marriage getting closer to the end so soon? She was asking herself regretfully.

"Can you give me something spicy?" Izzie asked Meredith with a mischievous smile.

Meredith had a guess of what Izzie wanted to hear, so she just took the bottle of tequila and filled Izzie's glass. "Spice enough, trust me."

"Oh please," Izzie pled her. "I will tell you about Alex."

"Eww," she made a grimace and shook her head. "I could ask Lexie about him, remember? But I don't need to know about Alex. At all." That reminded her, "Where's Lexie? She still hasn't showed up?"

Izzie and Cristina shook their heads.

"Shouldn't we be worried then?" she asked them and they nodded.

"But not when we're drunk," Cristina answered. "She's a big girl."

"I have a strange feeling about this," Meredith muttered, thoughtful.

"I guess that's the way you feel when you are in the middle of a divorce," Cristina shrugged.

"I am not in the middle of the divorce!" Meredith snapped. "I hope I am not," she added, muttering under her breath.

"You're in love with him," Izzie noticed, smiling sympathetically at her.

Meredith was still refusing to admit it was love. Something there was and it was very strong, she just didn't feel comfortable admitting it was love. "I don't love him," she muttered. "It's just that…" she stopped, not finding the right words.

"You're in love," Izzie gave her finale diagnosis.

"He's bossy and he fishes and he … he likes old movies and he… he is communicative and… and he has… a horrible morning breath. I am not in love with him. It's just pisses me off that he wants us to know each other very well after such a short time. He wants me to guess his thoughts and he wants to guess mine. My thoughts are my thoughts. My thoughts are private and… and I want him to like my friends because I like my friends, right?" Meredith looked at Izzie and Cristina, not really expecting an answer to her ramble as she went on, "One time I told him a secret and he passed it forward. That's not fair. He thinks he is more valuable to me than my friends are."

"And he's not?" Izzie asked her and this time, she looked serious as she asked that.

Meredith stared at her for a moment, puzzled. "I've started getting used to him lately," she answered quietly, indirectly answering to Izzie's question. "He cooks and cleans and he let me drive his new Lexus sometimes and… he kisses me a lot and…" and she stopped there, sighing as she felt overwhelmed by the feeling that her own words had filled her chest with. She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice the stares of her friends. "Husbands suck," she concluded quietly.

"It's sad when you can't keep a man like Dr. McDreamy," Izzie sighed.

"Are you calling my husband Dr. McDreamy?" Meredith glared at her.

Izzie looked a little confused as she didn't know why Meredith looked disturbed by that.

"He's still my husband," Meredith frowned.

Izzie giggled and downed another straight shot of tequila, "Men don't deserve our jealousy," she nodded, already tipsy.

"Exactly," Cristina agreed. "If it weren't for their _things_, they would be entirely worthless."

"Alex's thing is worthless itself," Izzie grumbled with sadness and then she tipsily giggled.

"Derek's thing is … decent," Meredith stated. "I am not complaining. It's decent and well maneuvered so… he's not entirely worthless."

"Burke's thing is amazing," Cristina sighed loudly.

All three of them fell in a depressing silence and sulked, each with her thoughts. They stirred out of the trance when they heard the door opening. Shortly Lexie walked into the kitchen with a wide smile plastered on her face.

"I know," she said, holding up her hand when Meredith wanted to stand up. "I should have called." She threw her purse and her jacket on the counter and came at the table. "What's with these faces?"

"Alex is cheating on me. Meredith and Derek are close to the divorce," Izzie started relating.

"What?" Lexie looked shocked at her cousin.

"And Cristina is Burke's girlfriend," Izzie continued, without even noticing the interruption.

"You are?" Lexie looked at Cristina then, with the same shock. "I was gone only 2 days."

"Which brings up the question, where the hell have you been?" Meredith scolded.

"Meredith," Lexie pulled a chair next to her cousin and couldn't stop from smiling. "You would not believe what I did. I don't believe what I did."

"You did or you have done?" Meredith asked suspiciously.

"Did and… maybe done?" Lexie giggled. "I had the most crazy and amazing two days ever."

"Let me guess," Cristina cut in, "It has something to do with a man's _thing_."

"Man's things?" Lexie asked, confused. "Oh, I get it," she started laughing. "You're all drunk because of the boy problems. Aww, that's sweet."

"Can I kill her right now?" Cristina asked Meredith. "I promise I will do it quickly and she won't feel any pain. Or I could just give her one of your friendly muffins if you want to see her suffering."

"My muffins are very friendly and very delicious," Meredith frowned.

"I ate one and I am still alive," Izzie nodded.

"You're drunk," Cristina pointed out.

"Lexie," Meredith turned to her cousin ready to lecture her, but in that moment her phone started ringing. She took out her phone and discreetly smiled when she saw Derek's number. In that moment, she forgot about everything else. She stood up and walked out of the kitchen without paying any attention to the others.

"What is it?" she answered, trying to sound still mad of him, though she was happy he called.

"Where are you?" Derek didn't sound very cheerful either.

Meredith was a little confused. How did Derek know she wasn't at the trailer? "Why?" she asked.

"I just arrived home and you're not here. Where are you?" he demanded.

Meredith felt somewhat guilty in that moment as she wasn't there when Derek had probably returned to apologize or talk about the fight they had had. "What are you doing home?"

"Mark showed up and mom started lecturing him, so I will see her in the morning when I drive her to the airport. Now can you answer to my question?" Derek insisted.

"I am with Cristina, Lexie and Izzie," she answered. "I wasn't going to spend my evening alone while you were with your mother."

Derek sighed and stopped arguing, knowing she was right. "Make sure you don't get too drunk. I don't want to find out later that you have a second husband."

Meredith couldn't hold back the giggle. "I will see you tomorrow?" it was rather a question than a statement.

"Of course," Derek answered softly. "I guess I will be sleeping alone tonight."

"You'd better," she giggled.

"Have fun,"

"I will," she smiled. "Good night, Derek."

"Good night, Meredith."

Meredith closed her phone and smiled with relief. After a couple of shots of tequila, she wasn't even drunk anymore. Maybe her marriage wasn't close to the end, yet.


	26. Forget about the others

**Chapter 26 – Forget about the others**

"Seriously! What's going on with Lexie?" Meredith asked her fellow interns as the rounds ended and each of them were ready to go to their assignments.

Izzie had the hairgrip in her mouth, but as she gathered her hair in a bum and freed her lips she answered, "The last time I saw her, she was by her locker reading from a paper. She seemed to turn pale and then she ran out of the locker room."

"I noticed that too, but what was with that paper?" Meredith questioned, confused.

"Let her be," Cristina groaned at Meredith's worry. "She's a big girl. She has a life."

"I have a bad feeling," Meredith muttered.

Cristina stopped suddenly and looked at Meredith, "Are you sure you're not pregnant?"

Meredith was taken off guard by the question. "I am on pills," she muttered.

"Your hormonal level seemed to have gone off," Cristina shrugged and kept walking as she turned around.

Meredith stayed frozen, staring after Cristina with a shocked face. Izzie patted her on the shoulder as she passed past her, "Maybe you have real reasons for the bad feeling."

Meredith sighed exhaustingly. She wished she could stop worry about Lexie.

"Hey," Derek's voice startled her when he whispered in her ear.

She looked up at him and met his smile, "Hey."

"Something wrong?" he asked her, narrowing his eyes as the frown of her worry was still on her forehead.

Meredith shrugged, "Maybe I am just pregnant."

Derek stared at her, eyes wide opened, not knowing what to believe.

Meredith hadn't paid too much attention to her statement; she became aware of it only when she read Derek's shock, "Oh," she giggled and shook her head. "I am not … pregnant. It's just… I was saying. Cristina said it, actually. Never mind," she rambled. "Has your mom left?" she asked, changing the subject.

Derek still looked at her, confused with her previous statement. He slowly nodded and took off his mind from her words, "Their plane took off half an hour ago. She sends you a hug," he smiled and wrapped her into his arms. He loosened his arms for a brief moment and then he hugged her again, "And this is from me," he smiled at her as he broke the embrace and took her hand. "Come with me."

Meredith followed him without any comment and Derek led her into the nearest on-call room. "Derek," Meredith scolded when she saw him locking the door.

"Just for more privacy," he reassured her. "We won't do anything against your will," he chuckled. "Come back here," he said, pulling her back into his arms and softly kissing her lips.

Meredith relaxed in his arms and kissed him back. She pulled back from his arms and took a plastic bag out of her lab's pocket, "I saved a friendly muffin for you."

Derek looked reluctantly at her muffin.

"Just try it," Meredith giggled. "I promise it won't hurt you."

Derek smiled at her with a knowing look, "I was sick for days the last time you cooked."

Meredith rolled her eyes, "You were sick only for a day."

"Two days," Derek disagreed. "And more than one day counts as days, several days."

"Derek," Meredith giggled and stuffed the bag in his hand. "Just a small bite."

"If I die from this small bite…" Derek warned her while he took the muffin out.

"I will inherit the land, the trailer and probably all your money," she smiled mockingly.

Derek sighed with fake relief, "I feel safer now," he took a deep breath and took the tiniest bite possible from Meredith's friendly muffin.

"You can't feel its taste this way," Meredith groaned.

Derek chewed for seconds the small piece of muffin and in the end, he looked impressed, "It doesn't have any unfamiliar taste."

Meredith just rolled her eyes smiling, while Derek ate the whole muffin at once.

"Who made this?" he asked her.

"I did," she frowned.

Derek smiled, disagreeing, "I promise I won't tell and I even promise I will teach you how to cook."

"Derek," Meredith whimpered. "I made these muffins and if you don't believe me, I can prove it to you anytime."

"Really?" Derek had been honest at first when he didn't believe her, but now seeing the hurt on her face, he was leaning to believe her.

"Forget about it," Meredith gave up.

Derek pulled her back into his arms and gently brushed the back of his hand against her cheek, "I missed you last night."

"I missed you too," Meredith smiled.

Derek chuckled and shook his head, disagreeing, "I bet you were too drunk to miss me."

Meredith bit her lip and giggled, "I missed you when I wasn't drunk."

"That sounds comforting," he laughed and, taking her hand, led her to the bed. "So where are we standing now?"

"Into an on-call room," she answered, though she knew what he really meant with that question. Derek looked at her, waiting. Meredith sighed and looked down at her hands as she started playing with them, "I have my friends, you have your friends, either we like them or not."

Derek put his hand over hers and scooted closer to her, "Again. I am sorry I didn't keep your secret."

Meredith didn't reply to that and she kept looking down at their hands, now watching their wedding rings.

"Burke came yesterday to me and he sounded … sarcastic when he said that I smoothed my path in the race for the Chief of Surgery by marrying to Ellis' Grey daughter. That disturbed me and… I went and told Richard about him and his intern," Derek stated.

Meredith looked at him with disbelief.

"I know. I said I was sorry," he said.

"No," Meredith shook her head. "That is childish. It's like going to your teacher and telling her that Burke has louses so that he won't go on the trip your mom doesn't let you go."

Derek listened to her example and burst into laugher, "Great imagination."

Meredith glared at his amusement.

"I know," he admitted.

"Now Cristina is pissed off because Burke wants to make their relationship official," Meredith sighed.

"But she forgave you, right?" he asked.

"Yes, but she hasn't forgiven you yet," Meredith pointed out.

"I don't want her to forgive me. Ever," he answered.

"Derek," Meredith sighed. "You need to like each other at least a little bit."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to be your mommy when you two get into a fight," she said.

Derek chuckled and winked at her, "That wouldn't be bad. You could spank me as punishment."

"Derek, be serious," Meredith laughed.

Derek wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his arms, "Do you have any trust in me?"

"I shared my best friend's secret with you," she pointed out.

Derek smiled and rested his cheek against her head, "Is there any trust left after that?"

Meredith looked up at him and smiled, "I kissed a girl," she confessed.

Derek looked at her, confused.

"On the lips," she added. "And tongue."

Derek slowly nodded, looking at her and still not completely understanding if she was serious or just joking.

"It was a very long time ago and I was drunk," she said.

Derek kept nodding slowly, "Obviously. Just tell me it wasn't Cristina you kissed."

Meredith laughed and shook her head, "It wasn't her."

"So this is another secret you share with me and Cristina?" he asked her.

Meredith shook her head, "Only with you."

"Impressive," Derek chuckled. "Not the secret itself. The fact that you shared it with me only is impressive."

"Thank you," Meredith giggled. "Share one of your secrets with me," she grinned at him. "But don't tell me about the guy you kissed."

"I didn't kiss any guy," Derek laughed.

"Ok, then share a secret with me," Meredith smiled.

Derek sighed and thought about a secret to tell her about. "Ok but this is a big secret," he warned her. "I hope you won't use it as revenge."

"I promise," she held her hand up and made the cross over her chest with the other one.

"None includes Cristina too," he said.

"Absolutely," she nodded.

"I won't be just pissed with you if you tell anyone," he kept warning her.

"Just tell it already," she urged him impatiently, like a child in a candy shop.

"I had sex," he blared out.

Meredith kept looking at him, waiting, but Derek didn't seem to have anything else to add. "Derek, you still have sex. At least that's how I call the thing we do together."

Derek closed his eyes, smiling as he added, "With myself." He opened his eyes and saw Meredith staring at him expressionless.

Slowly a smile crept on her lips and grew bigger, forcing Meredith to bit her lip not to burst into laughter, "Ok." She nodded, smiling. "But…" she added and let out a short chuckle, "I am not sure if this can count as secret."

"Why not?" he asked, confused.

Meredith bit her lip again to hold back the laughter, "Are you sure that none suspected you of having sex… with yourself, from time to time?"

Derek didn't like the sound of that question. "I told you a secret and you'd better not tell it to anyone."

Meredith laughed and jumped onto his lap, mounting him, "Was it good?"

"Stop now," Derek chuckled, carefully pulling her closer to him.

"Is it better with me?" she kept teasing him, seductively holding his face in her hands, brushing her lips against his.

Derek moaned and gripped on her waist as he felt himself growing hard, "Much better."

Meredith pulled back and smiled cheekily at him, "So, you're enjoying yourself more with me than with yourself."

"Ugh," Derek groaned. "You're so painful sometimes."

Meredith laughed and crashed her lips against his, "Just porny," she stated.

Derek pushed the lab coat off her shoulders and the next second, he threw her onto the bed and started unbuttoning his shirt.

Both of them had started breathing evenly again when Meredith's pager went off. She jumped upright and started fumbling through their scattered clothes after her pager.

"Shit," she cursed under her breath as she read the message. "I completely forgot about Bailey's lab tests," she whimpered, stumbling over her clothes.

"That's irresponsible, Meredith," Derek said as he stood up and calmer, started dressing himself.

Meredith stopped and automatically turned to him, glare, "Are you serious?"

"Of course, I am serious," he replied. "We're in a hospital, working as doctors after we vowed we would use our knowledge in the benefit of humanity. You can't drag your attending into an on-call room and distract him."

Meredith was about to burst, when Derek chuckled and pulled her into his arms, "I am weak man."

Meredith giggled and nodded, "Obviously."

"Get dressed now and go," Derek urged her, reluctantly letting her go off his arms. "Will I see you for lunch later?"

Meredith startled when she heard her pager again and saw Bailey's message. She threw the scrubs back on her and gathered her hair as she walked to the door.

"So, lunch?" Derek asked again.

"If I have time and Bailey doesn't kill me," she sighed. "This should never repeat," she said in a serious manner.

"Absolutely," he smiled knowingly.

"Do I look like after sex?" she asked him, turning towards him so that he could see her better.

Derek held the lust on his face as he scanned her from toe to head, "Yes, because I am an incredible man," he laughed.

"What?" Meredith frowned and quickly her hands started running through her hair, face, smoothing the scrubs.

"You look professional enough," Derek reassured her with a chuckle. "Go now. I will come out later."

Meredith nodded and took a deep breath as she turned to the door. She walked outside casually, acting as if she was checking her phone, and just glanced around her. No one seemed to have noticed her coming out of an on-call room shortly after she had started her shift.

Discreetly she sighed with relief and started sprinting towards the elevators, hurrying to answer to Bailey's calls. Raising suspicions about her extra-activities during her shift was much easier now that everyone knew about her marriage to Derek.

"Meredith!" she stopped when she heard Lexie calling after her. Lexie ran to her and both walked into the elevator.

"Hey," she greeted her cousin with suspicious. "You're late," she muttered, carefully trying to read the panicked smile from Lexie's face.

"I know," Lexie answered quietly. Her smile faded and she looked like she was in great pain. "Meredith, I think I need help."

Meredith sighed and shook her head disapprovingly. "I knew something was up with you. I asked you several times what was wrong and you kept reassuring me. Right now I am trying to save my intern butt, so I don't have time. Will I find you alive later?"

Lexie swallowed a lump and nodded.

"Great. Find me later and you'd better tell me everything then," Meredith stated. The elevator stopped and Meredith stepped outside, heading for the laboratory.

-------------

Meredith hugged the doorframe as she showed up breathlessly in Derek's office. "You paged me?" she asked him, panting.

"You'd better not coming from an on-call room," he chuckled from behind his desk.

Meredith rolled her eyes and walked inside, "Can you just tell me what you want? I am starving."

Derek grinned at her as he put on the desk two paper bags, "Lunch time."

Meredith smiled and shook her head, "Thank you, but shouldn't we go to the cafeteria?"

Derek checked his watched as he said, "It's passed 4 pm and with that train collision from the ER nobody had time for food until now."

"Derek, I can't have lunch in your office," she said.

"And why is that?" Derek frowned. "I thought we weren't hiding anymore."

"And we're not, but we agreed not to be husband and wife inside the hospital," she answered.

Derek chuckled and shook his head, disagreeing, "We kind of were this morning in the on-call room."

"Hey," she shushed at him and looked outside on the hallway to see if anyone had overhead him.

Derek laughed and stood up, "We can close the blinds," he said, coming beside her.

"That would betray us even more," she hissed, slapping his hand when he wanted to close the blinds. "Derek, some people might not like the fact that I am having lunch in your office and by some people, I think you know who I'm talking about."

Derek rolled his eyes and groaned with annoyance. He returned to his desk only to take the paper bags and then he walked outside, without a single word to Meredith.

Meredith watched him sliding down against the hall and putting the bags beside him, "Is this a proper place?" he asked, not looking at her as he took out a coffee cup.

Meredith giggled and sat down next to him. Derek shared the food and the drinks and both smiled at each stare of the fellow staff.

"This is more obvious than the on-call sex," he whispered in her ear and laughed.

"As long as the Chief lets me learn something," she shrugged. "I don't really care about the others."

"That's very… mature of you," Derek stated, impressed.

"See? I am growing," she smirked at him, laughing.

"Small, but safe steps," he agreed. "What's going on with Lexie?" Derek asked, watching into a direction.

Meredith followed his gaze and saw Lexie slowly walking towards them.

"She looks panicked," Derek stated and looked at Meredith as if waiting for an answer.

Meredith was sure now that something was wrong with her. She shrugged and waited for her to approach them.

"Dr. Shepherd," she faintly smiled down at Derek before she glanced at her cousin. "Is this a good time to talk?" she asked her shyly.

Meredith sighed and nodded. "Thanks for the lunch," she smiled at Derek as she stood up, taking her sandwich and her coffee.

"We'll talk later," he smiled and watched them leaving, worried.

While they headed towards an on-call room, Meredith had the feeling she was walking with a ghost beside her. Lexie didn't look like she was breathing anymore and her face was straight and her look blank.

Lexie walked inside first and held the door open for Meredith to get in as well. She closed the door and locked it before she went and sat down on a bed.

Meredith stared at her for several moments and noticed something, "What's in that folder? Did you have it with you this morning too?" she asked her, looking at yellow folder from Lexie's lap.

In all this time, Lexie kept her eyes down. As her cousin asked her about the folder, she just glanced up and nodded.

Meredith waited for her to start explaining; because there was definitely something to explain.

"I assisted to a leg amputation," she said matter-of-factly.

Lexie faintly smiled at her and nodded, "I am on charts. Dr. Heron says I am not carrying a bright, optimistic spirit with me today."

"And I agree with her," Meredith answered. "What is it?"

Lexie swallowed a lump before she glanced up at Meredith again, "How well do you know Spanish?" she asked her.

Meredith was confused with the question. "I am not great, but I think I can say 'hi'. Why?"

Lexie took a deep breath and pulled a paper out of the folder. She stared at it for a moment and then she held it up to Meredith.

Meredith quickly took the paper, carefully watching Lexie, and then she drew her attention over the paper. She could not believe her eyes as she read the big letters.

"Does…" Lexie chocked and cleared her throat before she could speak again. "Does this mean that I won to lottery?" she asked with trembling voice.

Meredith shook her head in disbelief, unable to tear her eyes from the paper, "If a marriage license can be considered a lottery prize…" she muttered.

Slowly she rose her look from the paper and looked into her cousin's tearing eyes, "What have you done?" she asked quietly.

Lexie swallowed back the tears and her eyes fell over her shoes, "Something stupid?"

"Lexie," Meredith groaned. She came and sat down on the bed beside her cousin. "What have you done?" she asked her again.

Lexie stood quiet, still staring at her shoes.

"What is this, Lexie?" Meredith asked her, softer than she really felt in that moment.

"What do I do now?" she desperately asked, looking at Meredith.

Meredith stared at her, unable to wrap her mind around what she had just found out. She could not understand how that was possible. "Is it Alex?" she snapped then and looked down at the paper.

It couldn't be Alex she understood as Alex had been at work the days she missed. Her eyes wandered all over the paper until they locked on the name.

"Mark Sloan," she read quietly. "Derek's Mark Sloan?" she blared out.

Lexie swallowed a lump and slowly nodded her head. "Do you think it's real?"

Meredith stared at her in disbelief. "You're asking me if this is real. What the hell is this in the first place?"

"Marriage license as you said," she answered quietly.

Meredith closed her eyes and tightened her jaw, suppressing a groan. "Tell me everything. How everything started."

Lexie was quiet for a few moments, staring at her hands. "I met him at Joe's one night after work. We talked and drank and when he found out my last name, he asked me if I was related to Meredith Grey, and I said yes and then he said he was Derek's best friend. And we laughed then. And then… then we drank more and we laughed… more. And… we got tired. And horny, so… we went to his hotel room and we… had sex. Amazing sex I should mention."

"No, you shouldn't," Meredith cut her off.

Lexie glanced at her and flashed a smile, "The next morning – because I slept over- we… talked. About you and Derek. And your marriage. He asked me what was the craziest thing I had done and I had nothing to tell him, so he started laughing at me. Then… he asked me if…" she stopped there as she couldn't find the gut to continue.

"If you want to go to Mexico and get married, right?" Meredith asked.

"No," Lexie quickly wanted to clear that out. "He wanted us to go on a short trip. Somewhere exotic."

Meredith laughed bitterly. "That's exactly what Derek asked me the day we met. You should have learned something from my mistakes. Going on a vacation with a stranger can't lead to something good. No sane person does that."

"You've done it," Lexie frowned.

"I never pretended to be a sane person," she said. "Besides, Derek is different from Mark. And we went to Vegas to get married. We didn't cross the border."

"Meredith, I swear I had no intention in getting married. The day we got there it was so beautiful. The beach, the water, everything was like… heaven. I even had sex on the beach."

"Aww. So we're excited about the sex on the beach now," Meredith retorted sarcastically. "I thought I was stupid the day I went with Derek in that trip, but you are stupider than me."

"Now there's no need for you to offend me," Lexie retorted.

"Should I congratulate you instead?" she asked sarcastically.

Lexie looked down with tears in her eyes, "We're cousins. We're more than cousins."

"You were very supportive to me the day you found about me and Derek. Do you remember that?"

"Is this a pay back then?" Lexie asked her.

"No. I didn't send you to Mexico to get married. I didn't wish for you to do it. I told you not to follow my example and do my shits," Meredith retorted.

"Ok. Ok," Lexie jumped up on her feet, bursting into tears. "You're right. I shouldn't have gone with him in the first place, but now it's too late. What do I do? Please, Mer," she knelt in front of Meredith, pleading.

Her anger slowly melted and started feeling bad for her cousin. Meredith took her hands and shrugged. She barely knew what to do with her marriage.

"Does Sloan know?" she asked Lexie.

Lexie wiped her cheeks and shrugged, "When we were sober, he didn't mention anything about it."

"Did he look like he knew something? I mean, did he seem changed from the first day you met him?" Meredith asked.

Lexie shook her head. "I don't think he knows either what've done that day… or night. Mer, what do I do now? Is it even legal?"

Meredith sighed and shrugged clueless. "How should I know? I guess that you have to talk to him now and… let him know." Then she stopped as a thought struck her.

"What is it?" Lexie asked, panicked, when she saw the change in Meredith's expression.

"Did you use protection? You'd better not be pregnant," Meredith told her. That had been one of her fears as well in her first days as Mrs. Shepherd.

"We used. Of course, we used," Lexie nodded convincingly.

"Good," Meredith sighed with relief. "Then call him and tell him what you found out."

"But I think he left back to New York,"

"He did," Meredith nodded. "He left this morning with Derek's mother. I will ask Derek for his phone number."

"Can't you or Derek call him and let him know?" Lexie asked, hopeful.

Meredith lifted a brow, skeptical, "I don't think so. It's your crap, deal with it. As I deal with mine."

"But, Mer, you already have experience. I don't know what to say to him or what should I do now."

Lexie's eyes started brimming with tears again as she looked at her cousin pleadingly.

"We'll figure this out," Meredith sighed. In that moment, her pager went off as well. "Great lunch," she muttered under her breath as she checked the message. "I have to go now," she said, standing up. "Just… stay away from men. And women too. Just go… sit alone and that's it."

Lexie nodded and stayed in the on-call room, watching Meredith leaving.

-------------

Derek got out of his car and sighed as he looked at the trailer's lighted windows. Meredith had avoided him the rest of the day and left from the hospital before him. Again. This time he didn't know what he was being blamed for, but he was sure she was up for a fight. Again.

This time, he didn't find her baking friendly muffins. She was lying on the bed, reading a book.

"Hi," he wanted to make sure if she was in a mad mood for real.

"Hey," she muttered, not looking up from the book.

Derek sighed and convinced himself; she was pissed and, though he didn't know why, he had something to do with it.

"What did I do this time?" he asked, throwing his briefcase on the bed, beside her.

Meredith pushed the briefcase away and stood up. She looked up at him with a glare, "What is with you and your friend? Did you make a bet, a contest?"

"What are you talking about?" Derek asked, completely clueless. "And please just tell me what I am guilty for because I really don't think I am in the mood to stand your mysterious attitude.

"Lexie and Mark got married," she said, propping a hand on her hip.

Derek stared at her, dumbfounded. She was joking. She was definitely joking. She wasn't in a bad mood and she was just making fun of him. Though it didn't seem very amusing, Derek burst into laughter. He stopped right away as he saw that Meredith wasn't giving up on her uptight face.

"Lexie and Mark got married?" he asked, still clueless. "Who are Lexie and Mark?"

"Lexie Grey and Mark Sloan," Meredith answered.

Derek still could not believe it. "Meredith, this doesn't sound like a good joke."

Meredith grabbed a paper from the nightstand and threw it into his hands. Derek looked at her before he looked down at the paper. "It's in Spanish," he muttered. "And there's Mark's name," he added as he read more. "What is this?" he asked her.

"That's exactly what I am asking you?" she retorted.

"How in the world should I know what is this? Do you see my name written on this paper?" he burst out nervously.

"What kind of people you two are? Is this a hobby? A bet or a contest? What the hell is it?" she shouted.

"I don't know what you are talking about!" he shouted back.

"This…" she said, slapping the paper from his hand, "is the same scenario as ours. They met at Joe's and went for an exotic vacation. To Mexico!"

"Our marriage was an accident. Accidents happen out of nowhere. Our marriage wasn't deliberate. If they did the same, then it means that they are the most idiot people from the history of humanity. I don't see any reason why are you yelling at me right now," he blared out. "What this has to do with us and especially with me?"

"He is your friend," she retorted.

"So?"

"So I kind of find it hard to believe that they can be this stupid. No one besides us can do something like this deliberately."

"Apparently, some people are this stupid, besides us. I can see what you're trying to do," he said, lowering his voice. "You always find a reason for us to fight. You find reasons in any insignificant thing."

"This is not an insignificant thing," she said, pointing to the paper.

"It is," he answered with calm. "It is, because I don't know anything about this and because I have nothing to do with Mark's acts. You're looking for a way to walk out of this marriage," he concluded sadly. "Fine. Let's just end it now. Spare us of other fights."

Meredith stared at him and could not believe what he was saying. She had doubts at first but then his explanations seemed reasonable. Derek was an honorable man, who couldn't get in a bet or a contest or whatever she thought he and his friend had done.

"You can keep the land," she said quietly. He knew better, so if he said it was time for them to end the marriage, then he was right.

"You can keep the trailer," he replied quietly, almost stunned seeing her giving up so easily. "I hope you don't mind if I use the porch tonight."

"What for?" she asked, confused.

"I am too tired to drive to a hotel," he answered, shaking his head disappointedly.

Meredith sighed and sat down on the bed, staring down at the floor. Both of them fell into an uncomfortable silence. Derek finally made a move as he took his jacket and walked outside.

As he stepped outside on the porch, Derek looked up at the sky; he could not believe what he was living in that moment was real. Everything ended so sudden. He ran to his car and took out of the trunk the hammock he hadn't had the opportunity to use yet. He unwrapped it and tied it on two pylons of the porch, the strongest ones. He lay down in it and watched the rain, which was spraying cold on his left side; he didn't feel that as he stared blankly at the wooden roof.

Derek heard the door opening and saw the light reflecting on his body. A blanket landed on his stomach and he listened to Meredith's quiet breath as she stayed in the doorway.

"What should I do with the trailer if you keep the land? Fly with it and settle into a tree?" she asked.

The question was meant to be sarcastic, but Derek could hear the amusement in her voice as she put it. He looked at her and saw her smiling shyly.

She drew in more air and looked away as she walked over to his hammock. "I am trying to do that when we fight," she said quietly, still looking away. "We fight because… I don't know why. Maybe because we always make up after."

Derek half-rolled into the hammock and made a little room for her. She smiled weakly at him and lay down next to him, while Derek spread the blanket over them.

"I'm sorry I suspected you of something like that," she said quietly, playing with the hem of the blanket.

Derek slid an arm under her neck and started playing with her hair.

"I looked on the internet and… I don't think their marriage is legal," she said.

"I don't think it's legal either," he sighed. "I mean, they went into a foreign country. They must have needed some legal papers from here."

"Do you think they have their own Vegas there?" she asked him.

Derek smiled at her and stroked her cheek. "Do you know what I think? I think we should forget about the others. Care less what they say and think about us. Even Richard. We'll try not to break the rules. Too often," he added with a chuckle. "As for Lexie and Mark, they are grown-ups. Nobody helped us or advised us when we found ourselves married. They think they're married, let them deal with their own stupidity. We have ours, which is handful already."

"Mark doesn't know," she said.

"That's even better. I can call him and congratulate him," he smiled. "We won't say anything to them. Let them figure out themselves if they are married for real or not."

"I feel sorry for Lexie though," Meredith sighed.

"She'll live," he smiled reassuringly and leaned down for a kiss. In that moment, they heard a crack and the next second the hammock collapsed with them.

"Oww," Meredith whimpered as she rolled onto her back.

"Oww me, because you landed on me," Derek winced, rubbing his ribs.

"Is this your way of getting rid of me?" she chuckled between whimpers. "My back is broken."

In pain, Derek laughed and rolled over. He brushed the hair out of her face and kissed her. "I could always bring a friend and have him marry one of your friends if I want to get rid off you."

Meredith giggled and kissed him back. "It's cold outside. You can sleep inside tonight."

"That's so generous of you," he smiled and stumbled up on his feet, helping Meredith as well. "I can't wait to see you flying away with the trailer from my land."

"You can keep your horrible trailer," she giggled.

"So this wasn't our last fight?" he asked her as they walked into the trailer.

"Probably not," she answered.


	27. Honey

**N/A: I know it's been long since I last updated this fic. Life hasn't been too bright & shiny for me lately. But now I managed to sit down and finish this chapter. It's something brighter than the last ones and gives you a perspective of what it will happen in the future for the newlywed couple. Please enjoy it!**

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Being married to Meredith since her first day as intern at Seattle Grace Hospital, Derek saw her growing as doctor; from the unsure and scared woman, she turned into a doctor sure of itself in only a few weeks. Of course she still had a lot to learn and she still wasn't completely prepared to fly solo, but the progress was visible. Derek loved working with Meredith in the OR and he also loved sitting in the gallery and watch her working.

As the surgery came to the end and Meredith stayed to close the patient, Derek went down to wait for her outside the scrubbing room. He smiled as he saw her coming out with Preston. "Dr. Grey, are you available for a moment?" he asked her, but looking at Burke for his consent.

"Dr. Grey?" Burke asked him and had a hint of sarcasm in his voice as he smiled at them.

"Dr. Grey," Derek replied, glaring at him while he took Meredith aside and started walking with her.

Derek walked right next to Meredith, tempted all the time to put a hand on her back and lead their way but he was stopped by Meredith with a glare each time he tried to do it. He walked her into his office and took a random folder from the desk, giving it to her.

"Lunch?" he asked her with a genuine smile.

Meredith smiled too and rolled her eyes. Derek proved to have great imagination each time they were at work and he wanted a moment alone with her. "Not if I want to scrub in to Burke's next coronary by-pass."

Derek furrowed his brows, not liking her excuse. "Since when are you interested in Cardio? Won't you have problems with your friend Cristina?"

"Since I am an intern and I decided that I want to become a general surgeon," she smiled teasingly.

"That's ok," Derek relaxed and smirked at her. "The appetite will be great for tonight."

Meredith looked up from the folder, questioning. "Appetite for what?"

Derek chuckled and winked. "Appetite for dinner. And more after dinner. I am inviting you out to dinner tonight."

Derek was unpleasantly surprised to see her lack of excitement to his invitation. He knew why. "Meredith, leave Lexie's problems aside at least for tonight. Please."

Meredith pleadingly looked at him.

Derek felt he was starting to get frustrated with the whole situation. A few days had passed already since Lexie discovered the marriage license through her things and also a few days since Meredith talked to a lawyer and found out that the license wasn't valid. "Meredith, they are not married for real."

"I know," Meredith sighed. "Lexie doesn't know that and she looks so… depressed."

"Then go and tell her the truth," he suggested, determined to do whatever it takes only not to see Meredith stressed because of Lexie. "Actually, you don't even have to do that, because I talked to Mark earlier and he's on his way to Seattle already."

"You did? You mean he knew the marriage was a fake?" she asked him.

Derek shook his head. "I don't think he knew anything about it. How can you not remember that you got married? I mean, I don't remember anything from our ceremony, but when we woke up the next day, we saw the rings on our finger."

"So he's coming here?"

"I think he already booked at flight. Although, he might suspect that his marriage isn't legal," he said.

Meredith sighed and leaned against the desk, shaking her head.

"What is it now? Your cousin will soon find out the truth and she will be able to calm down," Derek pointed out. "Both of them needed this scare."

"I agree with you, but…" Meredith hesitated and smiled shyly at him. "I have this feeling that she might not like the idea of not being married for real."

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused. "She looks like she's about to shortcut her veins any minute now because of it."

"You don't know her," Meredith muttered and let out a sigh. "When she found out about our marriage and she got angry with me, she was actually jealous on me." Derek was about to reply when Meredith stopped him, nodding. "I know. We're not a proper role model. That's how Lexie is."

Derek sighed too. Without caring that anyone from outside might see them, he wrapped his arms around Meredith. "We're married for real, Meredith," he said softly against her ear. "And I want you to go out with me tonight. Just the two of us. You in a stunning dress, me in a great tuxedo."

Meredith rested her hands on his chest. "I have a reply regarding the dress and the closet, but I won't say it." She looked up at him and smiled. "I'll just say, I'd love to go out on a date with you."

Derek brushed her cheek and kissed her softly. "We have a date then."

Meredith smiled and nodded. She gently pushed him away and headed to the door. "I should go back to work now."

"Page me if you need help," he said and answered to her smile with a wink.

**----------**

Because the space they had in their bedroom was too small for two people to get dressed in the same time, Derek let Meredith get ready there, while he went into the small kitchen area.

Meredith applied a little more mascara on her eyelashes and gave one last look to her make-up. Meredith smiled at her image in the mirror. She couldn't even remember when the last time she had a real make-up was. She carefully ran her hand over her hairdo and twisted around her finger a lock of hair that fell over her collar, standing up and giving a look to her dress as well. The gown was purple, with criss-cross patterned bodice and plain bottom, ending right above her knees. She had to remind and thank to her mother for buying it. Meredith slipped into some black sandals and made one last spin in front of the mirror. She was satisfied with her new look.

As she walked out of bedroom, Derek let out a sound of gasp and just abandoned his tie on his shoulders, unable to tear his eyes from Meredith. She looked differently and yet the same. In that moment, Derek couldn't help but wonder how it would have felt waiting for her down at the altar in the day of their wedding. He felt something in the pit of his stomach and he said to himself that he should felt that in their wedding day.

Meredith walked over to the place he had frozen and gathered the tie around his neck, wanting to tie it. Just then she realized she didn't know how to do it.

Derek chuckled as she watched her clumsy hands playing with his tie. He put his hands over hers and gently got them off him. "Watch me," he said and showed her how to tie it.

"I got that," Meredith chuckled.

Derek smiled knowingly and untied it, "Let's see." Meredith frowned and glared at him. "What?" he laughed. "I am your teacher."

"I don't go out on a date with my teacher then," she huffed and turned on her heels.

Derek grabbed her by the elbow and spun her back to him, taking her into his arms. He gently ran his hand over her hairdo, careful not to mess it, and then his hand brushed against her cheek. "You look lovely."

Meredith softened her frowned and started smiling again. "That's very nice of you to notice."

Derek smiled and let her off his arms so that he could make the knot to his tie, leaning to Meredith's ear as he did that, whispering, "I always notice the lovely way you look."

Meredith bit her lip, suppressing a giggle, and just smiled. "Where are we going?"

"To a nice restaurant," he said. "You're ready to go?"

Meredith nodded and Derek took his phone, the wallet and the keys to his car. "You really aren't going to say anything about the way I look?" he asked, slightly frustrated.

Meredith rolled her eyes as she walked ahead, heading to the door. She had started getting used to that. She looked back over her shoulder, giving him a from-head-to-toe look, and smiled at him. "My knight in shining… whatever," she giggled, holding her hand out for him.

"Thank you," Derek laughed. "That's the nicest thing anyone ever told me."

"Be good and I might tell it to you again one day," she giggled.

As they stepped out of the trailer, outside on the porch, they noticed how badly was pouring. They stayed and watched the rain, which wasn't suiting with their outfits, and even worse, it could ruin their look. Derek went back inside and came out quickly with an umbrella. "Wait me here," he said to Meredith and ran out in the rain, heading to his car.

Meredith stayed on the porch and watched him, thinking he was going to bring the car closer to the trailer. He did bring it closer, but not close enough. Derek ran around the car and opened the passenger's seat door, and he came back quickly on the porch.

"Let's go," he said to Meredith, scooping her up onto his arms in the same time.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, amused.

Derek looked at her, their faces only inches away, and smiled. "You have delicate sandals," he said. He quickly climbed down the porch and ran to the car, placing Meredith inside on the passenger seat. Then he ran around and got inside too, shaking the rain off his hair. "That's for calling me your knight in shining armor."

"I said my knight in shining whatever," Meredith pointed out with a giggle.

Derek furrowed his brows, displeased. "So I am whatever to you?"

Meredith giggled, shaking her head. "Not just any whatever," she said. "You're…"

"Knight in shining whatever," Derek added along with her, both laughing. "I really like it. It makes me feel special."

"You are special," she said.

Derek looked at her, impressed, "Thank you."

"No reason to thank me," she replied. "We both are special. We're two morons who ended up married after a vacation to Las Vegas." She sighed and glared out the windshield at the rainy evening, pulling the seatbelt across her torso and buckling it in. "Where do you think our suitcases are right now?" she asked him.

Derek chuckled. He had completely about the lost suitcase. "Probably somewhere sunny."

"Do you think they're together?" she asked.

Derek considered the answer and shrugged, "Let's hope so."

"I don't even remember what I had in that suitcase," Meredith muttered thoughtfully under her breath.

"They have nearly 3 more months to come back from their vacation," he chuckled.

------

A young girl greeted them at the restaurant and walked them inside to their table. "Carrie," she called for a waitress that was not far from them.

The waitress looked back over her shoulder and turned towards them, rearranging her blonde ponytail while checking Derek on. Meredith noticed her gesture immediately and she didn't like it. When Derek came to hold the chair out for her, she turned and pretended to fix his tie.

Derek curiously looked at her.

"It looks much better now, honey," she said, smiling at him.

Derek was even more curious now. He held the chair out and waited for Meredith to sit down. Only when he took his seat across from Meredith and saw the young waitress coming to bring their menus, he understood the reason for her gesture. He looked at Meredith under his eyelashes, chuckling quietly.

"Good evening, sir," the waitress introduced herself, smiling at Derek. "My name is Carrie and I will be your waitress tonight," she said softly and carefully laid a menu in front of Derek, bending her body more than necessary.

Derek cringed discreetly when Meredith's foot jerked under the table, hitting him. "Thank you," he smiled at the waitress and then at Meredith. "You're starving, _honey_?" he asked Meredith, emphasizing the word.

Meredith faked a smile. "We were almost late for dinner because of you," she managed to giggle, making Carrie believe that they had done something nasty before.

Carrie discreetly cleared her throat and embarrassingly smiled at them, "I will be back in a few minutes. Take your time."

Meredith watched her leaving and smiled with satisfaction. She turned and glared at him when she heard him wanting to say something, "Shut up now."

"Ok, honey," he chuckled and looked down in his menu.

The waitress came and took their order, this time without glancing too much at them. She wrote everything down and turned on her heels, quickly leaving them alone again.

They started eating and talking randomly about their day at work, until a baby's cry had their attention. They looked at one of the nearby tables, where a young couple and their infant were having dinner. Neither of them noticed the couple until the baby started crying. The baby girl was fancily dressed in a baby blue dress, the same tone with her mother's dress.

"She's pretty," Meredith muttered, gazing over the baby.

Derek couldn't help but smile at the baby too – though her crying was pretty deafening- and looked back at Meredith. "Would you like one those?" he asked her. Meredith looked at him, surprised with the question. "We haven't talked much about babies, but we had a few scares," he added.

Meredith nodded and took another bite from her stick. She sipped from her wine and looked at the baby- which now, in her mother's arms, seemed to be calming down. "I want two of those," she said, nodding.

"Two? You sound very decided," he noticed.

Meredith looked at him, slightly confused. "I know how it feels being the only child. It's not that fun, especially if your parents are too busy to take you to park and make friends. If there are two, they can have each other."

"More than two is even funnier," Derek pointed out, letting her know this way his preference regarding the number of children he would like to have.

"Even if there's only one boy and a bunch of sisters?" Meredith giggled.

"If you know how to make alliances, then it is fun that way too," he laughed. "Maybe I was broking their toys too often, but I cohabitated in great harmony with some of my sisters. Being the youngest, Ashley was my main allied."

He had shared with her some of his memory as child and now Meredith could easily picture his childhood. He always had something funny to tell and she always found herself laughing at that. More than two siblings definitely sounded like fun.

Meredith sighed and put the fork down, thoughtful. "I am afraid of the thought of becoming a mother. I don't know why, but I can't picture myself like that."

Derek didn't like what he heard. "Why are you saying this?"

Meredith shrugged, still looking thoughtfully at the table. "It looks difficult," she sighed and looked at the young family. "And scary. How does she know how to raise her?" she asked, watching the bond between mother and daughter.

Derek understood her fear and felt a little more relieved. "They raise her the way they want to see her as grown-up. Probably like them."

"What would you do if your daughter will come home one day telling you that she got married to a man she barely knew?" she asked him.

Derek hadn't thought about that. He never asked himself how Thatcher must have felt like when they announced their marriage. The more he thought about that and tried to imagine the scenario Meredith had said, the more he felt raged. "I would probably drag her into her old room and lock her in," he said and from the cold tone of his voice, he meant it.

That was a side of their story which neither of them had seen until then. Getting married to a random person, without knowing anything about it sounded outrageous to both of them right now; at least as they imagined themselves as parents.

"Lexie is lucky she isn't married for real," Meredith stated, mumbling. "Her parents won't be disappointed with her."

Derek leaned over the table and reached her hand. "Are you happy with me?" he asked her.

Meredith looked at him and smiled. "It's not that bad."

Derek knew she felt more and he wanted to hear it. "Are you happy with me?" he asked her again.

Meredith just smiled. "Are you?" she asked him back.

"I am," he answered. "Are you?" he kept insisting.

"I am not," she answered, looking into his eyes. "Happiness is… hard to achieve. You need that," she said and looked towards the young family. Derek followed her gaze and understood. "But I am satisfied with you," she said and smiled at him.

"I am satisfied with you too," he stated and gently brushed her hand with his fingers. "Did I make you change your mind over the number of kids we will have?" he chuckled, trying to lighten up their mood.

"Not in the near future," she giggled.

Derek smiled, taking her hand and kissing it. "I understand that. Other than that we're ok with the number, aren't we?"

"You didn't mention the number," she pointed out.

"At least 4," he answered.

"And the most?" she asked.

"5," he chuckled.

Meredith nodded, "Reasonable. Start making savings for them."

Derek laughed and let go of her hand as he leaned in his chair. He looked over her shoulder and then smiled knowingly at her. Meredith shifted her position in the chair to be able to look behind her. She saw the waitress coming to bring their dessert.

Carrie put a strawberry ice cream in front of Meredith and a cheese cake in front of Derek. While she was gathering their other dishes, Derek leaned over the table, smiling at Meredith.

"What do you say if we switch the dessert, _honey_?" he asked, muffling a chuckle. "Let's try something different tonight."

Meredith laughed, rolling her eyes. "Let's try," she lifted a brow, smiling. He was definitely making nasty remarks for the waitress to hear.

The waitress understood what they wanted her to understand. She finished with the dishes and left quickly, leaving them alone.

"You're insane," Meredith laughed.

"We could try something different tonight," he lifted a brow suggestively. "Your hairdo looks fragile though."

Meredith bit her lip, smiling. "I still can work under the table," she whispered.

Derek read the lust in her eyes and he could not believe she was serious. "I was just joking, Meredith."

Meredith kept smiling at him and kicked the sandal off her foot. She felt the carpet beneath the table until she found Derek's leg and placed her foot on his chair, between his legs.

Derek gasped and suddenly became rigid, also feeling sweats all over his body. "Honey," he smiled, gritting his teeth.

Meredith giggled and brushed her toes against his pants. "Are you feeling sick, _honey_? Do you need some water?" she asked, teasingly.

Derek grabbed her leg and held her toes so that she couldn't move them and tease him. "I am fine," he managed to breathe out.

"Have some ice cream," Meredith said calmly, pushing the cup of ice cream in front of him. Because she kept pushing the cup towards the edge of the table, Derek had to take his hand out from under the table and held the cup, releasing this way Meredith's foot as well. Meredith giggled and her toes started rubbing against his thighs again.

"Stop," Derek said calmly, but sounding serious.

"Earlier you're in the mood for something different," she pointed out teasingly and giggled when Derek held her foot again and accidently tickled her. Her giggle drew the attention of some of the customers from the nearby tables. Meredith smiled embarrassingly to an older couple and looked away quickly. "I think we're overreacting," she mumbled, but she still held her foot between his legs.

"I don't _think_ we are. I _am sure_ we are overreacting; especially you," he scolded. "And when I said about doing something different tonight, I was talking about switching our desserts."

"Sure you were," Meredith rolled her eyes.

An older waiter approached their table and leaned to Derek's ear, whispering something and glancing at Meredith. Derek nodded reassuringly and smiled, embarrassed.

"Get off now," he hissed quietly at Meredith as soon as the waiter left from their table. Meredith knew what the waiter had told to Derek and flushed. Probably she had had too much wine that evening. She let her foot down and tapped the carpet, trying to find her sandal, useless because her shoe seemed to have taken off.

"Derek, I can't find my shoe," she said and made a gesture as if she wanted to look under the table.

"No," Derek stopped her, leaning over the table and grabbing her by the arm. "I don't think we should look like we like being under the table; if you know what I mean."

"I know what you mean," Meredith frowned. "But I need to find it. I can't go home barefoot like Cinderella."

Derek let out a chuckle as he heard her saying that. "Now wouldn't that be romantic?"

Meredith couldn't help but smile at his sense of humor. "Could you help me a little bit now, please?"

Derek just grinned at her. He took a spoon of ice cream and held it for her. "Chill out first."

She sighed, rolling her eyes, and smiled as she cleaned the spoon. In the meantime, Derek started looking for her shoe, also tapping under the table with his foot. He tapped until he accidentally hit Meredith's leg, making her jerk her leg and gasp loudly. Because all the eyes moved on them again, Derek quickly stood up and came behind her, patting her on the back as if she had chocked with the cheese cake.

"It has to be somewhere around here," he whispered and returned to his seat, genuinely smiling at the old couple- who was smiling and watching them suspiciously. "See what happens if you're naughty," he chuckled quietly. "Let's eat our dessert and keep your feet under your chair so that I can look for your shoe."

Meredith complied and drew her legs under her chair, moment when she stopped from eating and looked at Derek, smiling. "I found it."

Derek sighed, rolling his eyes. "I really hopped I will go home with a Cinderella tonight."

"Instead you have to go with me," she giggled.

Derek sighed again, faking disappointment. "Poor me," he said and gasped too when Meredith hit him under the table. His gasp drew the attention of the others again.

"Hurry with the cheese cake," he said. "They might throw us out soon."

"That would be something different," Meredith giggled. "I don't really like this cake though. I ate better in cheaper places."

"The ice cream is not that great either," Derek nodded and motioned their waitress to come.

Carrie had also witnessed to Meredith and Derek's weird under-the-table interaction, so she approached with slight annoyance and no longer being embarrassed. "Do you need anything else?" she asked courteously as she looked at each of them.

"Honey?" He asked Meredith, but she shook her head. "Nothing else, just the check," he smiled politely, but the waitress just rolled her eyes and walked away. "Maybe our behavior wasn't quite decent, but they still have to treat us right," he grumbled.

"Maybe she has trouble in love and she's jealous," Meredith shrugged.

"She's jealous on us, huh?" Derek chuckled. Meredith giggled and shrugged. "If people envy us, then it means that we're perfect together." Meredith just smiled at his statement, but Derek knew she refused to say it in words.

Carrie returned quickly with their check and Derek paid, leaving her a big tip. Back in her both shoes now, Meredith stood up and as Derek walked up to her, they walked out of the restaurant together. Derek held the door open for Meredith while she slid inside and then he hurried to his side.

"It was a fun evening," Meredith stated with a satisfied smile as she gazed out the windshield.

Derek smiled, pleased to hear her saying that. He took her hand and kissed it, but he had to let it go quickly because they were blocking the driveway for the other customers. They drove in silence for a while; it wasn't one of those awkward silences; it was calming and comforting for both of them. At the red light, when Derek stopped the car, Meredith turned to his and fixed his tie.

"You love this tie, don't you?" he laughed while brushing his fingers across her cheek. Meredith answered with a shake from her head. "Then why do you keep doing it?" he asked her, amused.

Meredith shrugged and repositioned herself in her seat. "I saw many wives doing it."

Derek laughed and pressed the pedal, taking off from the stop. "Good thing that I don't wear tie too often. You could strangle me so easily if you get angry with me."

Meredith didn't like what she heard, though Derek seemed to be joking. "Do you think I am aggressive? Or a desperate housewife?"

Derek noticed her displeased tone. "You're definitely not a desperate housewife," he answered jokingly, hoping that would lighten her spirit up a little bit. "I am sure you can't even kill a little spider."

"I am horrified of spiders," Meredith shuddered. "Usually I pick them up with a paper and throw them out."

"See?" he laughed and looked at her as he took her hand to kiss it.

Meredith smiled and as she turned and looked out the windshield, she let out a scream and grabbed Derek's arm. "Watch out!"

Derek looked panicked ahead and before he could clearly see the animal, he pressed the footbrake, the car creaked on the wet road while Derek madly spun the steering wheel in attempt of holding the car on the road. The car finally stopped, shaking them up against their seatbelts.

"Are you ok?" Derek asked Meredith, worried.

Meredith nodded. "What was that?"

Derek tried to see outside, but whatever he had hit was either under his car or right in front of it. "Stay here," he told Meredith and got out of the car, almost at the same time with another driver, which had probably seen the accident.

Derek found in front of his car an agonizing dog, luckily not under the car's wheels. He knelt beside him and checked him carefully; no sign of blood was visible and Derek hopped that was a good sign.

"Is it still breathing?" the man that had stopped the car too came and asked Derek.

"It is," Derek nodded and hurried to take off his jacket. "I need to take it to a hospital."

"Let me," the man offered, kneeling beside him. "I will take care of it."

Derek looked at the old man. "Are you a vet?" he asked.

"No, but I can take him to the hospital," he answered.

Derek checked on the dog's neck to see if it had a collar, but nothing was attached to its neck. It was a dog without master. "Thank you, but I think I'd better take it," he said.

In all this time, Meredith had stayed in the car, with the window rolled down and listening to what Derek and that man were saying. She understood they had hit a dog and she wondered why that man was insisting so much in taking the dog if he wasn't a vet. She opened the door and got out of the car, coming in front where the two men were.

"Is it bad?" she asked Derek, worryingly looking down at the hurt dog.

"Meredith, get back into the car," Derek demanded, not liking to see her outside at that hour, on a not very crowded street.

"Put it on the backseats," she said, completely ignoring his request about getting back in the car.

"Really, I could take it to a hospital," the unknown man insisted, looking at their fancy clothing. "This way you can go back to your evening."

Meredith didn't know exactly why but she felt the need to glare at him. "Is it your dog?" she asked him.

The man looked at Meredith and shook his head after a moment. "No."

"We hit it, we take it to the hospital," Meredith replied.

Derek rolled his eyes at the nonsense Meredith and that man were arguing about and carefully took the dog onto his arms. The dog flinched and whimpered as it looked at Derek. Meredith hurried to hold the door open so that he could put the dog on the backseats.

"Thank you," Derek smiled at the man as walked around the car, getting back in the car. "What was the matter with you?" he asked Meredith as the car took off. "You were kind of rude to him."

Meredith looked at him, in disbelief. "Did you really think he was a good citizen wanting to help a hurt dog, which someone else hit and not him?" she laughed sarcastically. "I bet he wanted it to sell it or use it for its own restaurant as meant."

Derek slowly turned his head and looked at Meredith, stunned with what she was saying. "Your imagination is incredible."

"Like you would have never heard about cases like this," Meredith huffed and looked out her window. She turned then and looked back at dog. She leaned it and touched the dog's soft fur. "Poor little animal," she muttered.

"It doesn't have a collar so I suppose it's without owner," Derek said. "Listen. We're going to the hospital, but where exactly is the hospital?"

Meredith stared at him, confused. "Couldn't we take it to Seattle Grace? I mean how big the difference between the dog's anatomy and human's anatomy is?"

Derek laughed at her. "You'd better start thinking where we can find a veterinary hospital. I want my conscious clean."

Meredith tried to see outside, hopefully spotting by accident a veterinary hospital around. She also tried to think if she ever passed past one of those. Nothing came into her mind. "I usually don't kill dogs," she said, shrugging.

Derek stopped the car at the red light, struggling to remember if he had ever seen a veterinary clinic at least. He looked in the rearview mirror and saw the dog was still lying there and still breathing. Another car stopped beside them and Derek noticed the driver was a man. As he didn't know how to find a hospital, Derek decided to start asking people on the street. He waved at the other driver and made him a sign to roll down the window. The man did so and Derek could ask him. Luckily, the man knew about one and gave them the direction, which wasn't very far from the place they were at that time.

They soon stopped in front of a veterinary hospital and Derek and Meredith took the dog inside. A doctor took it right away, asking them to stay in the waiting room.

Derek cuddled her hand, while Meredith rested her head on his shoulder. "He's so alone," she muttered. "Do you think we killed him?" she asked Derek.

Derek rested his head against hers and ran a comforting caress across her cheek. "He didn't look so bad." He planted a kiss on her forehead and let her rest on his shoulder. "At least we got a little action under the table," he joked.

That cheered her up a little bit as she giggled. "It was fun action. Something different. And we could have finalized the action home," she added with a sigh.

Derek sighed too as she mentioned the dog. "We're good at doing unusual and fun things. Except for the dog's accident, of course."

The doctor came out and looked around, spotting them. Derek and Meredith quickly stood up as they saw him approaching them.

"How is he?" Meredith asked anxiously.

The young doctor smiled reassuringly at her. "He has a few broken ribs, but other than that, he is fine."

"Can we take him home?" she asked him.

The doctor looked at them, silent for a moment. "I noticed he doesn't have a collar and he's also full of lice," he hesitated a little before he put the question. "I didn't have time to ask you when you brought the dog, but… is it yours?" he asked them.

"No," Meredith answered. "We hit him… it was an accident."

"Oh, I see. And would you like to adopt it?" the doctor asked her.

Meredith seemed thrilled with the idea, but she didn't know what Derek thought about that. She looked at him, hopeful. Derek loved dogs and considering the fact that he had hurt the dog, adoption was a nice gesture. He smiled at Meredith and nodded.

"We do," Meredith smiled at the doctor.

The doctor smiled, pleased to hear that. "I will have to keep him under observation tonight. Please come back tomorrow and check on his condition. There isn't much you can do here tonight." He looked at their outfits and smiled. "Besides, you might want to end your evening properly."

Derek didn't like the way the doctor's green eyes lingered on his wife. He wrapped an arm around her waist, smiling at the doctor, "We'll be back tomorrow, Dr…"

"Dandridge," the doctor shook Derek's hand. "I will see you tomorrow then," he stated, smiling at them.

They said their goodbyes and Derek walked with Meredith outside, back in the rain. Meredith stopped and turned her face to the sky, letting the light rain wash it. She shivered as Derek stopped behind her, breathed against her ear.

"Are you sure you want to come back for the dog?" he asked her.

Meredith looked at him and smiled. "I've always wanted a dog."

Derek chuckled, nodding from his head, and put a hand on Meredith's back as he walked her to their car. "I've always wanted a dog too."

They didn't know yet what a big commitment they took by adopting a dog.

----------

**_Another note: You won't hear from Finn again. I just put his name because I couldn't think about other vet name :)_**


	28. It's men thing With women

_N/A: I know it's been over a month since I less updated this fic. I had a crazy schedule and lack of ideas, so that's why I couldn't update sooner. This chapter is a filler of what's to come next._

**Chapter 28- It's a men thing. With women**

Derek groaned as he heard the alarm clock buzzing at his side and lazily slipped his arm out from under the quilt to shut it down. His hand slapped over a cold one. As he opened his eyes, he saw Meredith, smiling at him.

"I am sorry. I didn't know I set this up," she whispered.

"That's fine," he moaned and rubbed his face against the pillow. He threw the quilt off him but lingered in bed before he swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

Doc, their dog, came greeting him cheerfully and as Derek patted him on his head, he jumped up on the bed. "If Meredith sees you," he chuckled quietly at Doc.

In the meantime, Meredith had returned in their small kitchen area. It was a special day and a special day –also an off day for both of them- required some special baking. While arranging the muffins in a tray, Meredith heard Derek's muffled laughter. That could mean only one thing.

"The dog better not be in bed," she called out loudly for Derek to hear her. "He just came from outside!"

"He's not," Derek chuckled.

Meredith rolled her eyes and as she turned towards the bedroom, she wasn't surprised to see Doc sitting in bed besides Derek. "Derek!"

Like knowing the reason for the shout already, Doc jumped off the bed and ran to her.

"You're baking?" Derek asked, a little confused as it was a very early hour in the morning. "You're depressed?"

Meredith smiled and rolled her eyes. "It's my birthday and I am in the mood for baking," she stated.

She turned back to the tray and didn't notice Derek's smile. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, propping his chin on her shoulder as he kissed her. "I know it is. I also know what other reason of celebration we have."

Meredith smiled as she looked back at him, curious.

"We are about to complete our 3rd month together," he said with a chuckle and pulled away, coming to sit beside her at the counter. He took one of the already-baked muffins and asked as he piled the wrapper off, "Do you have anything special planned for this day?"

"No," Meredith shrugged but noticed as she looked at Derek that he did have something planned for their day off. "Hit me," she giggled.

Derek kept grinning at her and took a large bite from the muffin. A very salty and … unknown taste filled his mouth. He had to look away to hide his grimace.

"Isn't it good?" she noticed his reaction.

Derek managed to swallow and smiled at her. "Just hot still."

"You shouldn't hurry," she shook her head. "Now tell me what do you have in plan?"

Derek turned around so that he could face the small window and said as he gazed outside, "It's a beautiful day."

Meredith looked up and followed his gaze. It was indeed a bright dawn and it seemed that the day would be just as bright. "Do you want to spend time outside? We don't have a pool," she giggled. "Or do you want to take me for a ride with the trailer?" she laughed mockingly.

"Mocking me isn't a really nice gesture," he gently stroked her cheek. "We are going outdoors. Some hiking and fishing," he said and pulled back, leaning against the counter. "How does it sound?"

Meredith giggled. She couldn't remember when was the last time she went out for hiking; though she wasn't a fan of this type of activity, this time it did sound tempting. She smiled and nodded.

"I will pack some clothes for us," he grinned and kissed her on the cheek. "I have all the other stuff packed and in the trunk of my car already."

"Oh, so you've been planning this for a while, huh?" she giggled.

Derek came back to her and pulled her into his arms. He brushed the hair out of her face as he smiled. For a reason, he felt a little like a cheater, but as long as Meredith wouldn't feel disappointed, he could live with the guilty feeling. He bit her lips gently and parted her mouth as she moaned, kissing her deeply.

Meredith pulled back and smiled against his lips. "I have just one tray left to bake."

"Don't worry. Your dad won't be here very soon, so we have time," he said as he turned and walked with Doc back in the bedroom. "I already arranged it with the Chief. You'll have the day off tomorrow as well, in case we decide to camp over there."

Meredith stared after him curiously. "My dad? My dad is coming with us?"

Derek suddenly stopped at Meredith's question and winced discreetly. "Yeah," he said, turning to look at her. "I thought it would be… nice to have one of your family members."

Meredith lifted a brow suspiciously. Derek sounded like he was stammering and she could read how nervous his smile was. "My father never goes fishing without Charlie, his friend."

Derek kept on smiling at her. "He's coming too."

Meredith chuckled, shaking her head. "You weren't planning on taking me with you for my birthday."

"That's not true," Derek denied and came back to her, ready to do whatever it was necessary to convince her.

"That's fine, Derek," she reassured him with a smile. "Probably I will go and hang around at the hospital anyway," she rested her hands on his chest and sighed. "It was nice of you though. I mean, to try and make it up to me."

Derek cradled her hands in his and said, "I admit. At first, when I talked to your dad about camping and we set the date, neither of us realized it was in the same day as your birthday." He smiled embarrassingly. "We kind of remembered it a few days ago."

Meredith sighed discreetly. "You remembered and you're forgiven," she smiled at him, patting on his chest. "You and me and two old men though… I am not sure. You should follow your initial plan."

Derek shook his head, refusing her answer. "My initial plan was stupid. We can see if Lexie or Cristina can join us. You don't have to be alone with three men."

As she sighed and looked up at him, there it was again; his genuine smile; the one he put on his face each time he wanted something from her. "I don't think they have the day off."

"Let's go and find out," he suggested. "I am sure at least Lexie will be thrilled to join us and even if they're not off today, I will talk to the Chief."

Meredith narrowed her eyes, disapproving. "How about no favoring me or my friends?"

Derek smiled wickedly. "Aren't you up for something out of the rules? Just this time."

"Seriously?" Meredith laughed sarcastically. "The last something-out-of-the-rules thing we did, led us to the marriage. So I think we should stick to the rules."

Derek didn't show any offense in Meredith's refuse. He kept smiling at her. "What other thing, worse than ending up married, can happen to us now?"

"I don't know," Meredith shrugged. "Getting knocked-up?"

Derek stared at her for a brief moment and then burst into laugh. "You have such a great imagination. You are on birth control and besides this your dad will be there. I don't think will get anyplace near your panties."

Meredith bit her lip to hold back the smile. "You would find a way."

"Would you try to experience some wild sex?" he asked with a smirk full of lust in his eyes.

Meredith flushed in an instant and slapped him away from her. "You wish."

"I wish, but this seems to be more like your fantasy. Not mine," he laughed.

Meredith hid her smile as she turned her back on Derek to get the tray into the oven. She started the gas on and just then she turned and faced Derek again. "I am not sure, Derek. What if it will start raining?"

"Oh come on. Don't tell me you're afraid of wild sex," he mocked her, laughing. "You won't get any if you don't want to," he added with a smirk.

"Derek, stop talking about sex," she asked, rolling her eyes.

"It will be fun, Mer," he reassured her. He put his hands on her waist and pulled her body against his. "We need to get out of the daily routine."

Meredith smiled at him. "And you wouldn't be bothered if Lexie comes too?"

Derek hesitated before he shook his head.

"Really?" she giggled. "Does this mean that her… ride with Mark in our bed is forgotten?" she asked. A few weeks before, after Derek had told Mark about his accidental, fake marriage to Lexie and after Derek and Meredith had returned from their dinner, they were unpleasantly surprised to find Mark and Lexie, together in their trailer.

"The linens have been burned and I am considering changing the mattress, but other than these, I am willing to forgive them. I think that was one of a kind divorce," he smiled.

"I am a little worried about her, Derek," Meredith sighed. "She hoped for real that her marriage to Mark was legal."

"I did notice too that she looks more tired. Her daydreaming will cause her trouble if she keeps going like this," Derek stated. He smiled and took her hand, saying, "I will convince at least one of your friends to come with us. I don't know many people who can resist me when I ask them for a favor."

"Really?" she giggled.

"Really," he grinned. "And I know a certain person who can't resist me," he added with a smugly smile.

Meredith laughed and poked his between ribs. "Go and finish packing. I have to wrap the muffins for the road."

"You don't have to do that," Derek said quickly and held her hand.

Meredith looked surprised with his reaction. She glared at him as she put her hands on her hips. "You don't like them? You know I make really good muffins. These are my 'friendly' muffins."

"Of course," Derek forced a smile. "Ok, I will pack them. You should go and take a shower in the meantime, because this might be your last shower until tomorrow."

Meredith narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she started at him. How could he not like her friendly muffins? Derek had to grab her by the shoulders and spun her around towards the bathroom.

Derek listened until he heard the shower on. He gave Doc two muffins and wrapped the others. "You'll get more on the road," he told him. "If you live," he added, muttering.

While Meredith and Derek got ready for the trip, Thatcher called Derek and asked him to come and pick him up as he still had some things to take care of. Derek told him there was no problem, as he and Meredith would first stop by Lexie and Cristina's apartment.

Later on, Meredith, Derek and Doc were in front of the apartment door. Meredith rang once and waited. Checking her watch, it was 5:30 already, but she hoped her friends were late for work that morning.

"In a second!" they heard Izzie's voice answering after the second ring. The door flew open and Izzie showed up in front of them wearing a black pair of boots, a black pair of pants, a pink jacket and a huge smile on her face. She looked like she was ready for hiking. "Oh you're taking the dog with you. That's nice," she beamed. "I will be right back," she smiled at them and quickly disappeared into the kitchen.

Meredith and Derek looked at each other, confused. Sniffing something delicious, Doc dragged them inside and Derek had to hold tight on his leash when Izzie returned from kitchen and Doc wanted to run to her.

"I hope you don't mind," she smiled, showing them a big basket.

"For us?" Derek chuckled.

Izzie nodded. "So I really hope you're going to take me with you today. I really need a change of sight. If you want these goodies, you have to take me with you," she warned them.

"I thought they didn't know," Meredith whispered to Derek.

Derek shrugged, clueless.

"Oh, your dad called Lexie yesterday. He thought it would be a surprise," Izzie cleared that confusion out. "So… Surprise!" she giggled.

"Yay!" Meredith beamed sarcastically.

Derek chuckled and elbowed her. "It will be fun to have all of Meredith's friends for her birthday."

Izzie nodded excitedly and looked at Meredith. "For an unknown reason, you and I are not such good friends. I want that to change because… I am friendly. I am a really good friend."

"I always wondered…" Derek mused. "Why you're friends with Cristina and not Izzie too?" he asked Meredith.

Meredith answered with a glare, while Izzie laughed. "I made a small birthday cake too. I will go wrap it and then we'll be ready to go."

As Izzie disappeared into the kitchen, Derek questioningly looked at Meredith as if he was still waiting for an answer to his wonder. "She is friendly. Admit it."

Meredith rolled her eyes, annoyed. "Now you like Izzie. That's sweet. Too bad you didn't find her earlier. You could have taken her to that trip."

Meredith did sound annoyed, but Derek wanted to believe she was also jealous. He put his hand on her low back and chuckled as he kissed her temple. "Too cheerful for me."

Meredith giggled. "For a minute I thought you still don't know me."

Derek chuckled as he pulled her to him, "Oh, I think I've started to know you pretty well."

Their attention was distracted when they heard a door opening. They saw Lexie sheepishly walking out of her room, with a backpack on her shoulder. They didn't need to ask her if she would come. Meredith was the first one to notice how pale and sleep-depraved she looked.

"I know I've… done things lately. Things I am not proud of," Lexie went on rambling. "But I am ready to change because I am tired and depressed and because I usually am not a depressive person. I would like a change a sight; something entertaining. I need it, so I appreciate your invitation," she said and looked at Derek. "Actually, uncle Thatch invited me, but I am sure you had to agree with the guest list too," she added. "Happy birthday, Mer," she smiled at her cousin.

Meredith smiled reassuringly and nodded her head. "Where's Cristina? Did she leave for work already?"

Lexie shrugged, clueless. "I don't think though. I heard some bangs coming from her room earlier. But she won't come. She said this is a man thing."

"Bangs?" Derek started laughing. "Does she want to drill holes in the wall with her head?"

"Derek," Meredith scolded him, laughing. "I am going to talk to her," she stated and headed towards Cristina's bedroom. She knocked once and grabbed the door handle, wanting to open the door. As Meredith found it locked, she knocked again and listened. Some hustle still could be heard coming from inside. "Cristina?" Meredith called through the door. No answer came from Cristina, but the hustle continued. Meredith knocked again and tried the doorhandle. Again nothing.

Meredith rushed back into the living room, alarmed. "Cristina is locked in her room and I hear some bangs coming from there," she told the others.

Izzie added with a chuckle as she walked into the room too, "Does this sound familiar to you?"

Meredith groaned, annoyed with Izzie's joke, and rolled her eyes.

"It could sound familiar to her," Derek laughed, mocking Meredith. "But she couldn't be with Preston right now."

Meredith looked at Izzie and nodded, agreeing with Derek. Then she looked confused at him. "How do you know?"

"We're meeting with him at your father's house," he stated.

"So, you were planning on taking me to a men thing?" Meredith asked, a little displeased.

Derek suppressed a groan and put his arm around her waist as he spoke in her ear, "We re-thought the whole plan as you can see."

"Anyway…" Meredith pushed him away. "We have to see what's wrong with Cristina. Why isn't she at work already and what's with all those bangs?"

In that moment, they heard Cristina's bedroom door unlocking and soon she walked into the living room, same as Lexie, already with a backpack on her shoulder. She gave them a brief look before she headed towards the door. "I know this is a men thing, but Burke says I am not funny and I don't know how to entertain myself. Humanly." She stopped and turned to the others. "Today, I will prove him that I can have fun 'humanly'. Without him. He's really going to miss me today when he will get a dummy intern under his service." She turned back to the door and opened it. Then she shut it back and looked at them again. "I don't have that fishing line, so I won't be fishing today. I will just be cheering for you while you fish." Stating that, Cristina walked outside the apartment.

"Camping and hiking aren't men things," Lexie disagreed as one by one headed to the door.

Meredith and Izzie looked at each other and then at Lexie. "These kind of are men things."

Meredith nodded, agreeing with Izzie. "Just that today it will be a men thing with women."

"She's better not be cheering today," Derek grumbled as he was the last one to leave apartment and close the door.

Meredith stopped, waiting for him, and smiled. "She doesn't know Preston's coming, does she?" Derek chuckled mischievously and shook his head. Meredith giggled as she patted him on his chest. "She will be definitely cheering while you fish."

------

As Derek pulled the car in front of the Grey's house, he and Meredith saw Thatcher, Preston and an elder man, putting things in the trunk of a car. Derek was the first one to climb out the car, followed by Meredith.

"Hey!" Preston greeted them cheerfully. He came to Meredith and gave her a hug. "Happy Birthday, Meredith."

"Thank you, Dr. Burke," Meredith smiled, uncomfortable with the familiarity between them.

"I don't think he minds if you call him Preston today," Derek chuckled. "He has a thing with Cristina after all."

Preston laughed and shook his head, disagreeing. "Actually, she still prefers me as Burke."

"Hey, Derek!" Meredith's father also joined them. "We're all ready to go."

"I can see you brought a lot of baggage with you," Charlie, Thatcher's friend, stated grumpily as he looked at the second car pulled behind Derek's.

As the car stopped, Cristina stormed outside, slamming the door. "What are you doing here?" she demanded, stamping angrily to Preston. "What is he doing here?" she demanded to Derek and then to Meredith. Meredith bit her lip and shrugged.

"Why are you making such a drama out of this?" Preston asked her and took her aside, not wanting to make a scene in front of all those people.

In the meantime, Lexie ran out of the car and puked beside a tree.

"What's wrong?" Meredith asked her, worried.

Izzie had followed Lexie outside, so she was holding her hair to back already. "Car sick, I think."

A loud, exasperated groan made itself heard as Charlie showed his displease. "We have way too many hormonal problems attending us today," he grumbled and tossed his backpack in the backseats of his car.

"I don't think I like this guy," Derek whispered to Meredith as he glared at Charlie.

"Nobody likes him," Meredith sighed. "I think dad just feels sorry for him. He is so bitter that he has no wife, lover or children."

Derek put his arm around her waist and breathed the scent of her hair in. "I should have changed the plan and take you with me only," he sighed.

"You should have," she smiled at him.

"We can change plans now too," he pointed out. "We could book tickets to the first flight to Vegas," he smirked.

Meredith smiled at him, thoughtful. "I would like to go to Venice and take a ride with a real gondola."

"Hmm," Derek considered her idea. "It sounds good, but we don't have time for it. Now seriously speaking; we could do something else today if you want to."

Meredith looked around her at Cristina who had just ended her fight with Preston and headed back to her car, Lexie and Izzie who were also heading back to the car, her father and Charlie shutting the trunk and then at Derek. She smiled at him and took his hand. "Let's try this."

"Ok," Derek chuckled and leaned in, kissing her.

They were about to get into their car when they saw Ellis walking out of the house. She stopped on the porch and looked at the four cars parked in front of her house. Meredith and Derek saw her motioning to Thatcher as if she was telling him to wait for something.

"What's going on?" Meredith asked Derek.

Derek was as clueless as she was.

Ellis walked back into the house, leaving the door open, and stayed there until Thatcher started honking. Meredith climbed out of the car then and went to talk to her father. "What's going on?" she asked him. "What does she want?"

Thatcher rolled his eyes and sighed. "She wants to come with us."

"Who?" she burst out loud, surprised. "Mom?" Thatcher nodded.

"She saw the group and she decided to do something out of ordinary," he said.

Meredith was staring at him. "Seriously?"

"Yes, Meredith," she started when her mother showed up behind her. "Now let's hit the road because it's getting late," she said and got into the car.

Stunned, Meredith trailed back to Derek's car. "Can we go to Venice now?" she whimpered at him.

Derek smiled sympathetically and squeezed her hand before he started the car and followed Thatcher's.


	29. In love

Meredith felt dazzled as she looked out the windshield at the sight of the small window. It looked like a painting, having an artistic mix of colors; green and yellow, new and old.

"This place looks beautiful," Derek breathed out, also charmed with the landscape.

"Magical," Meredith contemplated.

"Magical indeed,"

Their daydreaming ended suddenly and too brutally when they heard car doors slamming and people rushing somewhere. Getting out of their car, Derek and Meredith saw Ellis and Preston hurrying to the car where Cristina, Lexie and Izzie were.

"What's going on?" Meredith wondered, looking worryingly at Derek.

Derek shrugged and took her hand as they hurried to the car too. Meredith made herself room through the crowd and saw that Lexie was bent beside the car as she had thrown up.

"You have to tell me, Lexie," Ellis was demanding. "When was your last period?"

At that question, Meredith and Derek looked at each other. Derek sighed and shook his head with disappointment. They didn't know when Lexie's last period had been, but they knew the sex she had had a while ago.

"This is bad," Meredith whispered to Derek. He put a hand on her back and nodded, agreeing.

"You're hurrying to diagnose her with pregnancy," Thatcher joined the group, trying to give Lexie some space to breath. "Maybe she's just having car sick. The road was bumpy," he pointed out.

"Or maybe she ate from Meredith's muffins," Derek cut in jokingly, hoping that he would ease the tension. His joke didn't ease the tension, but it did bruise his arm as Meredith pinched him, glaring at him. Derek smiled and apologized with a kiss.

"This isn't the first time she throws up this morning," Ellis answered to her husband.

"As I said," Thatcher replied. "It was a bumpy road. Meredith used to throw up a lot when she was little and we were going outdoors."

"Meredith was a few years old back then and she didn't have a sex life," Ellis retorted.

Meredith rolled her eyes and suppressed a groan.

Thatcher gave up on fighting with his wife and looked at Preston and Derek. "Let's unload the baggage and see where we set the camp."

Preston and Derek agreed as Charlie was already gone with his things, not interested in what was going on with Lexie and also annoyed with the women's presence to their men thing. Derek took Meredith by the hand and motioned to follow him.

Meredith refused to go with him and glanced towards Lexie, letting him know she might need her.

"Your mom seems to handle this," Derek pointed out. "Besides, today is your birthday and you don't need stress. Come with us," he insisted.

Meredith looked one last time at Lexie. Ellis and Izzie were with her.

"He just needs someone to admire him while he works," Cristina stated as she walked past them, obviously overhearing Derek.

"We're in the woods, Cristina," Derek threatened her cheerfully.

Cristina looked back over her shoulder and smiled, "We also have a lot of witnesses," she pointed out.

Most of the times, Meredith found funny the little taunt between Cristina and Derek, but there were also times when they seem to be exaggerating with the antipathy for each other. "You should stop answering to her nasty comments. Sometimes you make me believe you mean what you say," she said to Derek. Cristina overheard that and snickered.

Derek wanted to hurry after her, but Meredith held a strong grip on him. "See?" she shook her head disapprovingly.

Derek smiled apologetically. "I was going to help her with her backpack."

"Help her strangle with the backpack maybe," Meredith muttered. "You'd better help me with mine and I go take Doc." They walked back to their car and Meredith took Doc outside and a few bags, while Derek took the heaviest load.

They walked a few minutes only until they got at a small river. The place was covered with trees, which made it perfect for camping as they wouldn't feel an eventual rain. Derek dumped everything down and started unpacking while Meredith and Cristina took Doc for a walk.

Preston left aside his things and made a step towards them, hesitating. „Maybe you should wait for one of us to come with you."

Cristina looked over her shoulder and snickered. „We're not scared of the big bad wolf." She grabbed Meredith by the elbow and continued their walk.

„Why are you so harsh on him?" Meredith asked.

Cristina rolled her eyes. She took off Doc's leash and grabbed a stick, throwing for Doc to run and take it. „He's too serious," she finally answered.

Meredith narrowed her eyes as she looked confused. „Too serious? What does this mean?"

„Too serious," Cristina answered. „Like holding hands."

Meredith stopped from walking and turned to her friend. „If holding hands is too serious for you, then marriage what is it?"

"I was talking about holding hands in public," Cristina muttered. "Do you remember Marlow? We went public and the next day he was proposing. I mean, I understand the reason why Marlow hurried, but what's the rush with Burke?"

"You're still calling him Burke," Meredith shook her head disapprovingly.

"That turns him on," Cristina smirked at her.

From the entire group, Doc the dog seemed the happiest, running all over and enjoying the great outdoors. He ran back to the girls and, feeling cheerfully, he started pushing against their legs, wanting to play with them. Meredith laughed as she knelt down at him and played with his ears. Doc barked, thrilled with the attention and jumped on her, knocking her down. Meredith started laughing even harder as Doc stepped on her and wanted to lick her face.

"I guess you don't need to be saved," Cristina grumbled.

"Actually," Meredith laughed as she struggled to get the dog off her. "I do."

Cristina rolled her eyes and grabbed Doc by his collar, pulling him off Meredith. Meredith stood up and shook the dirt off her clothes. "He's a good dog," Meredith cooed down at him and patted him on the head.

Meredith looked behind them as if she wanted to make sure that no one would hear what she was going to ask Cristina. "Why are you with Burke anyway? For surgeries only?"

Cristina hesitated. "Why are you with Derek?"

"Because I got drunk and because I accidently got married to him," Meredith shrugged, as that was an answer Cristina knew already.

"Why are you still married to him?" Cristina asked purposely.

Meredith knew where Cristina was heading with that question. It was her turn to hesitate. They walked for a little while. In the meantime, Meredith stood quiet and watched her shoes as they walked. "He's decent," she muttered, quietly as if she was answering to herself.

"You're in love with him?" Cristina asked her straight.

Meredith looked at her and then straight ahead. They made another few steps before she answered with a shrug from her shoulders.

"You are," Cristina concluded.

A smiled formed on Meredith's lips at that conclusion and held her smile as she looked at Cristina too. "I mean…. He's… he's in this way that… I don't know," she rambled. She glanced at her friend for her reaction.

Cristina was quiet, watching her shoes as they walked.

"The same thing happens to you," Meredith nodded, understanding.

They walked slowly for a little while, both quiet and thoughtful, until Cristina stopped and turned to Meredith. "I hate this situation."

Meredith smiled and shrugged. She wasn't sure if she hated that situation too. "It's ok to me. I guess." She shrugged her shoulders again. "I mean… I could love him. It's not that bad."

"You could?" Cristina lifted a brow knowingly. "You are," she pointed out.

Meredith shrugged again. "That's why I am saying it's not that bad."

Both sighed in unison and Doc barked at them, not liking so much their nostalgic mood.

"He's right. Let's change the subject," Cristina suggested.

"Ok," Meredith agreed. "Do you think Lexie is pregnant?" she asked her, worried.

Cristina rolled her eyes and groaned. "Great. Now you want to talk about babies. See? That's why being in love is a bad thing. You can't think about babies while you're still an intern. While you're still a resident actually."

"I am not thinking about babies and I am not talking about them either. I am talking about Lexie."

Cristina shrugged. "I have no idea what's going on in that head of hers. She seems dazzled by someone. Do you think she's back with Karev?"

Lexie's little escapade with Mark Sloan was still unknown by most of the people. Derek and Meredith were the only ones that knew about it and they had agreed to keep it secret; mostly for protecting Lexie's reputation.

"It's not Alex Karev," Meredith mumbled.

Cristina turned and looked at her suspiciously as she noticed from the tone of her voice that she was hiding something. "Who is it then?"

"You don't know him," Meredith answered.

"But you seem to know him," Cristina pointed out knowingly. "Since when do you know someone I don't know?"

Meredith had never lied to Cristina, but today she had to. She just didn't know how to do it. Luckily- rather luckily- Meredith noticed that they had averted too much from the camping place as she couldn't hear their voices anymore.

"Hmm. Cristina?" Meredith asked, carefully looking around them. "Where are we?"

"What?" Cristina laughed ironically. "Love has given you amnesia already? We're in the woods."

Meredith nodded and started spinning around. When they had lost the path? "Where exactly in the woods are we?"

Cristina looked up at her and then slowly she turned her head and looked around. "This is only you Shepherd's fault?"

Meredith frowned, angry. "Why is it his fault? And can you please stop calling him shepherd?"

But Cristina didn't look like she could reply to that. She was obviously about to freak out. As she spotted the dog, she pointed firmly to it and said through gritted teeth. "He'd better know how to take us back or I will ask that Shepherd to hang him on a tree."

"Cristina," Meredith hissed angrily. "Doc is a good dog and only Derek or I can decide if he will end up hung on a tree. Besides this, I want you to stop calling Derek, shepherd."

"Why?" Cristina retorted. "Isn't this his name?"

"You know you're not referring at his last name," Meredith glared. "He's not a Shepherd. His name is just Shepherd."

"What's the difference?" Cristina mocked her.

"The difference is…" Meredith paused, puzzled with the question. "Derek doesn't have sheep. He's a surgeon. Neuro surgeon, in case your love for Preston Burke has given you amnesia."

That hit Cristina straight into a sensitive spot. She stayed composed and smiled. "Derek can be both, Shepherd and Doctor Shepherd. He can even be a sheep doctor. He has a dog," she added, pointing somewhere down where she had last seen Doc.

Meredith folded her arms against her chest and smiled. "But he doesn't have sheep."

Cristina answered with a mocking smile.

Meredith gasped. "Are you calling me a sheep?"

Cristina rolled her eyes and decided to end up the stupid fight. "We're in the middle of nowhere and we're arguing over the meaning that your husband's last name has?"

Meredith took in her point. "We're going to die alone in the woods," she concluded quietly.

"Not exactly…" Cristina replied and looked after Doc. As she looked around, Doc was far gone.

"What?" Meredith asked her, not noticing Doc's disappearance yet.

Cristina looked up at her friend with a horrified expression. "We're going to die all alone in the woods. Doc is gone too."

"What?" Meredith gasped and looked around. "Doc!" She shouted after the dog. "Doc, get back here!" But there was no sign of Doc.

They started heading back, hoping they would keep the same direction they kept when they first left from the camp.

"If something happens, remember that cannibalism isn't the only option," Meredith asked, freaking out.

"It's not," Cristina swallowed a lump. "There are many trees here. And leaves. And ants."

"Oh crap," Meredith whimpered quietly. She looked for Cristina's hand and both tried to find the way back to camp.


	30. Babies

Cristina seemed to have stopped from breathing while Meredith seemed to be breathing for both of them as she was about to start hyperventilating. Branches and leaves creaked beneath their feet and each of them stirred when the other tripped over.

At first, Cristina had ranted about Doc but she stopped after a minute only when Meredith tried to comfort her with the thought that Doc could be dead already. Though she had told her that, Meredith was not only frightened of the idea of spending God-knows how many days and nights in the wood before someone would save them, but she was also worried about Doc. He was a dog so he couldn't disappear that way from his masters; he would have come back when Meredith called him. He was her and Derek's baby after all.

Meredith looked up at the sky and stopped briefly as she watched the high trees' branches playing in the wind. The sun was up on the sky and its rays felt warm against her face. That felt heavenly to Meredith and she wished she could enjoy it in other circumstances.

Seconds later, Cristina pulled her by the hand and muttered, "Day dreaming while we're alone with Tarzan."

Meredith sighed and asked, "How long do you think it took us to get to the place where we realized we're lost?"

Cristina shrugged her shoulders. "Less than it is taking us to get back now."

Meredith sighed again and kept the pace with Cristina. Neither of them could make jokes, nasty comments over last names or even curse. Secretly, each of them was praying inside her head to get back to the others in safety and soon.

They stopped suddenly as they heard a loud and constant rustle coming from a bush nearby. This time, neither of them was breathing and their hands were squeezing each other as they turned and watched, without blinking, the bush.

A big white fury ball sprang through it. Both screamed and as response to that, a loud bark started. Seconds later, Derek and Preston showed up running and stopped by his girl's side.

Cristina literally collapsed in Preston's arms, able no longer of holding steady on her feet. Everything she had held back in all this time just burst out through her system.

Derek had his arms wrapped tightly and protectively around Meredith in no time. He kissed the top of her head as she wrapped her arms around him and then whispered in her ear, "Don't ever do this again."

Meredith put her head on his shoulder and nodded as she gave a squeeze to his body. She stayed wrapped into his arms for some time as Cristina and Preston held each other too. They were all quiet in all this time.

Only when Doc barked at them once, everyone pulled away as if his bark was the signal they needed to know that it was safe to break the embrace.

Derek cupped Meredith's face between his hands and smiled at her as he ran his thumb against her cheek. "I can't believe you went hunting without guns," he found it properly to joke.

Meredith and Preston tasted it while Cristina groaned.

Derek smiled crookedly at her, ready for something 'nice' to say to her, "Of course you wouldn't need guns if you had the fierce Cristina with you." He smirked at her glare.

Besides anything else, Cristina was scared, so at Derek's joke, fire shot her eyes and she wanted to spring towards him but Preston caught her in time and held her away from Derek. "I really didn't miss this," Preston muttered as he tried calm Cristina down.

Derek tucked locks of hair behind her ear as he smiled at Meredith. "Now we are very curios to find out how in the world did you manage to get to this side of the wood?"

Meredith smiled, rolling her eyes as looked for Doc and said, "Now we are very curios to find out where in the hell Doc disappeared?"

Derek and Preston just shrugged. "He showed up to the camp and we thought we were going to show up right behind him. Minutes later we realized you hadn't come yet."

"Minutes later?" Cristina blared angrily, glaring at Preston. "Why minutes later and not seconds later?"

"We were setting the tents so we didn't pay attention to your absence," Preston explained apologetically.

Meredith sighed with relief and for the first time in the last hour she could relax. She took Derek's hand and smiled at him.

"How long have we been gone?" she asked Derek as they slowly started walking back to the camp.

"I am not sure. Doc came back about half an hour later after you had left with him and then it took us about 10 minutes to realize you weren't coming and another 10 minutes to find you."

Meredith looked at Derek, confused. "So we've been gone for what? Not even an hour?"

Derek and Preston looked at each other and Derek told them, "I thought you were mad because we didn't come to rescue you sooner."

Meredith shook her head. "I mean, we had the feeling that we have been wandering in the woods for half a day," she giggled.

Derek laughed and put his arm around her shoulders. "High sensations for your birthday, huh?"

Meredith giggled and elbowed him, "Not that high. What are the rest doing?"

"Charlie has gone down the river already, your dad is preparing my baits and my fishing line and your mom I truly hope she's done with lecturing Lexie." Derek updated her with the recent events.

"Why are they all dramatizing like this about Lexie's eventual pregnancy?" Cristina asked. "The solution is simple nowadays."

Preston frowned as he heard that. "It's not that simple if Lexie wants to keep the baby," he pointed out.

"Why would she keep it? She's young and she's a surgical intern. She'll have plenty of time for babies in about… 10 years," Cristina spoke up her opinion critically.

"She will also be a lot of years old at that time," Preston retorted.

Meredith and Derek looked at each other as they sensed an upcoming fight between Cristina and Preston.

"35 is an honorable age," Cristina retorted. "And still an early age."

Preston shook his head disapprovingly. "I think I know what I should expect from you."

"I hope you do," she replied with a grumble.

"What do you think of this?" Derek asked Meredith privately as they stood behind the others.

Meredith sighed and shrugged. "I think that's up to her. We could help her though if she wants to keep the baby. She wouldn't be alone. She needs to know that she has people supporting her no matter what she chooses to do."

"That's right," Derek agreed with her. "But I think we're forgetting someone's opinion," he pointed out.

Meredith looked at him, "Do you think he'd want her to keep the baby?"

Derek hesitated a little before he answered, "No. But he still needs to know about it."

Cristina stopped and turned to Meredith and Derek, carefully checking Derek. "Did she hook up with that friend of yours?" she asked him.

"Dr. Sloan?" Preston asked, surprised.

Derek decided not to comment and he just rolled his eyes. "I say we should let Lexie breathe and enjoy the day. We don't even know if she's pregnant for real."

As they were getting closer to the camp, they ended the conversation about Lexie's assumed pregnancy.

When they arrived to the camp, Meredith almost didn't recognize the place. Three tents were standing aligned one behind the other and chairs and fishing tools were scattered all over. Meredith saw Lexie unpacking a basking together with Izzie and as she could see, she was feeling much better. Ellis was sitting on a lounge chair, reading.

"Oh good, you found them," Thatcher was the first one that noticed them arriving. "Are we ready?" he asked Derek and Preston, motioning to the fishing line.

"I definitely am," Derek chuckled.

"I didn't finish putting all the baits in your box though," Thatcher smiled apologetically.

"Don't worry," Derek smiled reassuringly. He placed a kiss on Meredith's cheek before he finally let go of her hand and went to get his stuff ready for fishing.

Meredith and Cristina walked over to the dark navy tent – which she knew it was Derek's and they would share it with Lexie and Izzie, and probably with Cristina too. Lexie and Izzie were there and Meredith saw they had put their things inside the tent already.

"Aren't we afraid of leaving the things unlocked while we're not around?" Meredith asked them.

Derek overheard that and said, "We don't leave food, clothes and other valuable things in tents."

"What are the tents for then?" Izzie asked a little displeased with the rule.

"Shelter," Derek answered.

Meredith didn't care about the things they were letting in tents though. She and Cristina turned and looked questioningly at Lexie. Lexie smiled sheepishly.

"It's not that bad, really," Lexie told her cousin.

"But Lexie, what if you really…"

"I'll figure it out somehow. Maybe I am not," she said, unsure.

"Now please let's leave this topic," Thatcher cut in loudly so that everyone would hear him. "This is supposed to be a day of relaxation and so we should leave the critics for some other time," he said, looking at Ellis.

"I'll go help Izzie move the things in the car," Lexie excused herself from Meredith, running from more lecture.

Meredith looked worried at Cristina, but Cristina just shrugged and walked to sit down on a rock. Left alone with Doc, Meredith went and joined Derek in a chair. "We'll get out of this heavy environment soon," he winked at her.

"I don't want to hear you commenting over things like this anymore," out of nowhere Ellis snapped at her husband. Everyone looked up and saw her throwing the magazine aside and glaring at Thatcher. "I know you very well and I know what you really think about this. You think that a baby is always a blessing because no matter what your job is, there always will be someone to help you with it. Don't say anything else to Lexie about this and most important, don't encourage her to keep the baby. She needs to know that having a baby is not as everyone assures you it will be."

"First of all, we don't know that she's pregnant for real," Thatcher retorted. "And secondly, she has family to support her no matter what she decides."

"Like you promised you would support me when I found out that I was pregnant?" Ellis retorted with a sarcastic laugh. "You promised me the moon and the stars only to keep the baby and then, when Meredith was born, you found a job to a university which couldn't dig a hole if you didn't join it, and you let me deal with everything."

As Ellis blared out all those things, Derek looked over at Meredith. He saw her eyes brimming with tears. He shut the tackle box, put the backpack on his shoulders, grabbed the two fishing lines he had at his side and took Meredith's hand. "Let's go find the right spot," he whispered in her ear.

Meredith blinked several times as she sucked the tears back and smiled at Derek. Doc stood up and followed his masters, all three of them now ignoring what was going on behind them. They walked down the river's bank in a perfect silence, with Doc ahead of them and Derek still holding Meredith's hand. Derek was feeling sorry already for coming up with this idea for Meredith's birthday. Spending the day at the trailer or even at work would have been much better than hearing her mother talking about the deal she had had to suffer when Meredith was born. Now and then he glanced at Meredith, but her features didn't change once. She was no longer tearing, and her face looked calm, but there was a glare in her eyes that showed the pain.

Meredith stopped at one point and looked around them. "We're not getting lost again, are we?" she smiled at him.

Derek chuckled teasingly. "Wouldn't you like to get lost in the woods with me?"

Meredith giggled at his question and shrugged. "I guess it's better than with Cristina."

Derek listened to the place. Besides the sound of the river and the sound of wind brushing the trees, no other sound could be heard and Derek knew they were far enough from Ellis and Thatcher.

"Let's sit here," he suggested and threw the fishing-lines and baits down at his feet. "I got you a fishing-line too," he smirked at her.

"Can I fish rocks with it too?" Meredith giggled.

Derek just smiled and motioned for her to sit down on a rock. "Doc!" he called after the dog, which was running far ahead. Doc came back quickly and stopped at Meredith's feet. "I don't want to see you wandering too far," Derek scolded him. Doc stood down, cheerfully waggling his tail and waiting what they would be doing next.

Derek glanced at Meredith once more, checking on her mood. Meredith was gazing over the water, but he could see she was much better now that she was away from her parents.

"Do you know how to put bait?" he asked her.

"Touching a worm?" Meredith grimaced.

"I'll do it for you," Derek laughed.

"Would I disturb the fishes if I put my feet into the water?" she asked him. "I washed my feet this morning," she added with a giggle.

"I don't think they would mind much," Derek chuckled. "But I don't think it's wise of you to do it because the water is very cold."

"I don't mind cold water," Meredith stated and started kicking her boots off already.

"Meredith," Derek scolded.

"I'll be fine," Meredith reassured him. She put the boots beside the rock and turned around on the rock, slowly touching the water with her feet. She winced and pulled her feet back as she felt the icy water. It was mid September after all. But she then started touching it with one toe and then another, until her feet started getting used to its temperature.

The rock was large enough for two, so Derek took a seat beside his wife. "Here," he said, handing her the fishing line. "Stood up and let me show you how to throw it into the water."

As they stood up, Derek put an arm around Meredith, holding both of her hands as he showed her to move to throw the fishing line. Once the bait landed into the water, Derek motioned for them to sit back down.

"And now we sit and wait, right?" Meredith asked.

"Right," Derek nodded.

"It will be boring, right?" she asked him then.

Derek smiled and shook his head. "Actually, no," he answered. "We could talk."

Meredith looked at him, confused. "I thought we're not supposed to be talking."

"We can talk. Quietly," he whispered.

"Ok," she whispered back.

Derek stood by Meredith's side and waited in silence. He could tell Meredith was still upset with what her mother had said and he didn't know what to say to comfort her. They stood in a perfect silence, both looking as if they were enjoying the peaceful moment.

Their moment wasn't peaceful for long as Doc suddenly jumped on his feet, carefully looking over the water. Meredith and Derek didn't say anything to him as they waited for him to sit down again. Instead of sitting down, Doc sprinted into the water as if he was chasing something.

Derek jumped up and shouted at him to come back. When Doc didn't seem to be listening and Derek was ready to throw a rock after him, Doc stopped and in the same time, Meredith felt something pulling on her fishing line.

"Derek," she whimpered as she felt the resistance.

Derek hurried to help her and when he wanted to pull the line out, Doc started whimpering. Just then, they noticed that Doc had his paw stuck in the hook.

"Oh no," Meredith whimpered sympathetically for Doc's pain, while Derek groaned, annoyed.

Being bare-foot, Meredith gave the fishing line to Derek and she walked into the water to go rescue Doc.

Fortunately, the hook didn't pierce Doc's paw, so Meredith could safely release him. Once on the dry land again, Doc shook his fur and stood back down at his previous seat by the rock, pitifully licking his paw.

"Dry your feet and put the boots back on," Derek demanded, throwing a towel to Meredith.

Meredith did as she had been told and put the boots on. She took the fishing line back from Derek after he put bait in the hook.

"Aren't you fishing?" she asked Derek as his fishing line was still on the ground.

Derek smiled at her. "I am giving you some lessons first and then I will prepare mine."

Meredith rolled her eyes at his smug and looked over the water as she threw the hook ahead. "Do you think the others are coming?" she asked Derek.

"No," Derek smiled as he answered quietly. "Your father was talking about another spot for fishing." He paused as he waited for Meredith's reaction. Meredith just glanced at him with a smile.

"Thanks," she muttered.

Derek put his arm around her waist and sunk his face in the curve of her neck. "I am sorry for bringing you here today."

Meredith leaned her cheek against his face as a reassuring gesture. "This is a fine spot."

"It is," he chuckled.

"I guess we've been lucky," Meredith stated quietly. Derek looked up, confused with her statement. "I mean, we just got married. We can solve this with a divorce, but a pregnancy would have been… traumatizing."

"That's a though word," Derek pointed out.

"When do you think we will be ready to have children?" Meredith caught him off guard with that question.

Derek couldn't answer right away as he hadn't expected a question like that. "I guess nobody is truly ready to become parent," he answered. "As for us… I don't know. We need to work on our marriage first and make it stronger."

"Yes," Meredith nodded, muttering under her breath.

Derek was still curious with her question. "Do you want us to have a baby?" he asked her.

"What?" her head jerked up as she looked at him. "No. No. I was just asking."

"Ok. Ok. You don't have to stammer," Derek chuckled teasingly.

Meredith composed herself quickly and shrugged casually. "For the record, I don't stammer. Ever."

"Let me disagree," Derek laughed. "You often stammer. And ramble too."

"Whatever," Meredith rolled her eyes, acting as less annoyed as possible. She still wanted to talk about it though. She opened her mouth to say something, but shut it back quickly, not finding the courage.

Derek saw her. "I promise I won't tease you," Derek smiled.

"Ok, because you shouldn't," Meredith replied in a very serious manner. She hesitated a little and took a deep breath before she went on. "How are we doing?" she asked him.

"How are we doing?" Derek asked back, confused.

"Yes. How are we doing so far?"

"Oh," Derek understood just then. "I would say… I would say we're doing much better than 3 months ago. How about you? How do you think we're doing?"

Meredith glanced at him with a smile before she turned her look over the water. "I would say way much better."

"Yeah," Derek chuckled as he remembered all their silly fights from the first weeks of their marriage. "Much better," he nodded, muttering under his breath. He was still curious. "Do you want to have babies though?"

Meredith groaned and blushed instantly. "One day," she replied sharply and her cheeks went turned into a brighter red.

Derek laughed and, having an arm around her waist, he pulled her to him and placed a kiss on her temple. "How many babies do you want us to have?"

"Derek," Meredith groaned, embarrassed with the topic.

"Just answer, Meredith."

Meredith glared at him, but still smiling and blushing. "Two."

"That's a firm answer."

"I think it is fun having a sibling," she answered.

"Oh, so this is about siblings. This means, there can be more than two."

"How about you?" she asked him.

"I think I could handle more than two," he answered with a smirk.

But Meredith seemed not to pay attention to his answer anymore. She was gazing over the water, with her thoughts far gone.

"About your mom…" Derek said quietly, knowing there her thoughts were. Meredith looked at him and saw he didn't know what to say to her.

Meredith smiled reassuringly. "That's fine. A little surprising, but… I am fine. I guess I was a difficult baby."

"This doesn't excuse her though," Derek muttered. He could see that the topic was depressing Meredith and he didn't want that. Besides that, he didn't know how to comfort her.

"How do you think our kids would look like?" she asked him.

A sparkle showed up in his eyes as Meredith asked him that; a sparkle of hope. "I never thought about it," he mused, now curious with what the imagination would bring him. "If it's a girl, then I think she will look like me. Girls tend to look like their fathers," he added with a smirk.

Meredith chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Yeah. I think she would have your hair."

"Imagine what a Goddess she will be," he chuckled smugly.

"Sure," Meredith was amused with his smugness, so she didn't mock him. "But I think that she should inherit my eyes. Brunette with green eyes."

"That sounds like a dangerous combination," Derek mused.

"Why?"

"Imagine the long line at our door," Derek made a grimace at the thought. "And I don't like fist fights."

Meredith giggled and shook her head. "If you make her teen age a hell…" she threatened him.

"You will do what?" Derek mocked her.

"I will torture your son," she replied. "Or make sure that he will be a mommy's boy."

"I wouldn't let you," Derek shook his head, still smug. "No son of mine will be mommy's boy."

"Wanna bet?" she challenged him.

Derek was more than thrilled with the bet. He stuck his hand out and they sealed the deal, both laughing afterwards. Derek pulled her to him and stroked her cheek as he softly kissed her on the lips.

Their moment was soon interrupted when Doc jumped up and ran into the water, chasing something.

"Doc!" Meredith and Derek called after him, but Doc was unstoppable as he kept running around the place that the hook was.

Meredith felt resistance to her fishing line then and Derek helped her pull it out. A trout was struggling at its end.

Doc ran out of the water, happy to check his prey.

Derek released the trout from the hook and put it into a bucket and then he put a new bait on. He threw it back into the water, this time he held the fishing line.

Bored with the fishing, Meredith stood up and went for a walk with Doc. "I won't go out of your sight," she said when Derek wanted to say something.

She walked around the place indeed with Doc sniffing everything ahead. Spending some time along with Derek helped Meredith lift her spirit. Her mother's words were already forgotten. She sat down beside a tree and Doc joined her right way, putting his head down on her lap. Playing with his fur, Meredith contemplated the view. It was a perfect silence and now, no longer being lost in the woods, she could look up and watch the trees' branches playing in the soft wind. At some point, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the refreshing sensation of the warm wind brushing against her face.

She stirred and opened her eyes when she felt a warm breathing against her neck. Expecting to find Doc, Meredith started when she found Derek. "What about the fishing?" she asked him.

"I let the fishing line down. I had to check on you and see if you were sleeping."

"Why? Was I snoring?" Meredith asked him.

Derek laughed and kissed her. "No."

"It's beautiful here," she smiled at her.

"Nature is beautiful wherever you go," Derek stated as he stood down and put an arm around Meredith's shoulders.

She put her head down and they just enjoyed the silence. Being outdoors, Doc didn't feel like sitting for too long, so he took off again. Meredith snuggled closer in Derek's arms and Derek welcomed her with a kiss on the forehead. She lifted her face to him so it wasn't long before their lips met. They easily surrendered in each other's embrace as Derek's hand roamed along her back and Meredith's fingers tangled into his hair.

Meredith managed to break their lips and be able to ask, "Aren't you afraid that fishes will steal your fishing line?"

"I have a spare one," he smirked and leaned forward for her lips. He gently pushed her down and they lay together on the dump carpet of leaves.

"You were serious about the wild sex," Meredith giggled in his ear, sending shivers down his spine.

Derek nipped lightly her earlobe with his teeth and hovered, breathing against the curve of her neck. "And I meant it when I said wild," he whispered.

Meredith shivered and let out a giggled as her arms wrapped around his neck. She didn't really believe what he was saying, but she liked making out so she went on with the kisses. Soon the kisses became more passionate and Meredith started thinking she had been wrong. Derek did have some 'wild' sex in his mind.

"Derek," she pushed him off her. "We can't do this here."

Derek stood up, a little frustrated, "Why not?"

Meredith was staring at him in disbelief now. "We're in the freaking woods, Derek. Besides, we're not alone."

Derek replied with a smirk. "Besides, huh?" his smile was full of lust. He hugged her shoulders again and slowly laid her down.

"Derek," Meredith sighed, fighting against the urge of wrapping herself around him, and looked alerted around them for witnesses. "What if somebody sees us?"

"Nobody would dare to disturb us anytime soon," he said, looking at her. He brushed the hair out of her face and stroked her cheek as he leaned down and kissed her lips. His hands traveled lower, swiftly unzipping her jacket.

Meredith moaned in his ear. She did like what they were doing after all. "What if…"

"Shush," Derek put a finger against her lips and started kissing her again, holding her from protesting anymore.

That was it and Meredith surrendered completely. She didn't mind any potential witness or the dump ground she was laying on anymore. Wild sex in the woods was something she felt like she had to experience, especially in her special marriage.

Derek drew his jacket over them as he lay down beside Meredith, both of them catching up with their breaths. Meredith didn't feel nothing from the cold around her; she leaned her head against Derek's, warmed by his breath against her neck, and looked out at the sky, enjoying even more now the silence and their moment together.

"We should get dressed," Derek whispered.

Meredith nodded and both started looking for the missing clothes. "What if someone saw us?" she asked Derek as she put the jacket on and shook the leaves out of her hair.

"Please stop with what if," Derek groaned. "We would have had handcuffs by now."

"Do you think they would have interrupted us?"

Derek thought about that. "Probably not," he admitted, but then he was still not worried. "We're not in a public place, so there's nothing anyone can do to us."

All dressed up, Derek went to check on his fishing line and wasn't surprised when he found it missing. He let out a sigh and decided not to grumble upon that as it had been his idea of leaving it there and go spend some time with Meredith.

Meredith walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around him, giggling. Derek chuckled and brought her into his arms. "It was worth it."

Meredith patted him on the chest. "Maybe you'll get a new one for your birthday."

"I have no doubt of it," Derek leaned down and kissed her. "Now we should focus more on fishing, because we need to make sure we have dinner for tonight."

"What do you mean dinner?" Meredith asked, confused. "We don't have anything to eat?"

"We had sandwiches but those are as snack. We're a couple of people here and I don't think it's enough."

"Derek," Meredith groaned, displeased with what she was hearing. "Luckily, I brought those muffins."

Derek just smiled, hiding the guilt. Someone had eaten the most part of the muffins and it wasn't a person.

Doc returned to his masters, dragging a long stick after him. Derek looked carefully and recognized his fishing line. Doc stopped in front of his master, waggling his tail and letting the fishing line fell down at his feet. "Now that's a good boy," Derek chuckled, playing with Doc and rewarding him.

"Why is he good, for taking your fishing line and playing with it?" Meredith laughed teasingly. "Or do you really think he fought against a sea monster and took it back?"

The morning spent at the river, fishing, was a real blast for Meredith. She and Derek laughed all the time as they recapped the day they had met at the airport at the claiming lost luggage office, their days in Vegas and the days that followed. The more they talked about this, the more they realized how easy they could continue their marriage and how complicated they had purposely made it so far.

When Derek's supply of sandwiches ended and their buckle was surprisingly filled enough with fishes, they decided to go back to camp. Meredith was a little reluctant to that as she didn't know how she would face her mother without feeling depressed again, but Derek assured her that he would be with her all the time and distract her.

Surprisingly, they found the camp deserted. The tents were still up but there was no sign of human being. 'They weren't going to stay here all they', Derek had stated, so they dropped their fishing tackles and unpacked some of their things.

They spent the noon inside the tent.

Meredith was in Derek's arms when she sleepily opened her eyes. She could see absolutely nothing around her. She heard Derek's quiet breathing as he slept right behind her and besides that, nothing else.

"Derek," she patted his arm, whispering.

"Mmm?" he moaned sleepily.

"Derek? Where are we?" she asked quietly. Of course she had an idea of the place where they were supposed to be, but she couldn't realize right away why everything was so dark and quiet around them.

"Mer," Derek sighed as he sleepily leaned forward and placed a kiss on her neck, nestling her closer into his arms. "We're in a camp trip."

Meredith rubbed her eyes and rolled onto her back. She could hear the wind outside and the air around was chill, though they were well tucked under a blanket. They were still in their camp trip.

"Why is it all dark and quiet here?" she asked.

"It's not," Derek muttered. "Because you keep blabbering."

Meredith went quiet. She stood like that for a while, until she asked Derek, "Did you hear it now?"

Derek let her go off his arms and rolled onto his back. He rubbed his arms and started waking up. "Hear what?"

"The silence."

"Not anymore," he sighed.

"Open your eyes," she asked.

Derek sighed loudly again and opened his eyes.

"Do you see it?" Meredith asked then.

"See what?"

"The darkness, Derek."

Finally more awake, Derek understood what Meredith talking about. "What time is it?" he asked as he tried to read his watch. He couldn't succeed as there was no light. "Damn," he cursed under his breath and stood up, patting the floor around him. "Where are the clothes?"

"Don't we have a flashlight?" Meredith asked as she started searching for her clothes as well.

"I do," Derek answered, but showed no intention of taking it.

"So? Where is it?"

"Somewhere," Derek answered and chuckled at Meredith's groan. Then he felt an clothing item beneath his fingers. "Lace."

"My panties," Meredith grabbed and blindly looked for the fabric.

Derek took his time and analyzed it better. "Bra," he said, dropping it onto Meredith's lap.

Meredith hurried to put it on and then helped Derek look for the other clothes. Slowly each of them was finding its clothes.

"I still can't find my panties, Derek," Meredith whispered.

"I don't know where they are, Mer. Now I am going outside and see what's happening," he said as he got dressed already.

"No," Meredith blindly grabbed it by the arm and stopped him when he wanted to unzip the tent. "You can't leave me alone in here."

"I am not going anywhere," he replied and unzipped the tent. "I'll be right outside."

Left alone, Meredith tried to look for her panties again. As they were nowhere to be found, Meredith gave up and put the pants on, hurrying to go outside after Derek. As she walked outside the tent, a strong light blinded her.

"Found it," Derek grinned. He threw it to Meredith and then looked around. "Everything is as it was earlier. I don't think they came back since they left."

"What time is it?" she asked.

"8"

"8!? Derek, shouldn't we be worried?" Meredith asked, panicked.

Derek was a little panicked as the worst scenario passed through his mind, but he didn't want to worry Meredith. "Your dad knows this place. Did you find all your clothes?" he asked her, smirking at her.

"No," she scoffed. She took the flashlight and went back inside. "I can't find them. They're not here," she stated as she walked outside. "We took them off inside, right?"

"Yes," Derek nodded. "You must have lost them in the woods," he added with a chuckle.

Meredith froze with embarrassment as she heard that. "It's not so bad," Derek chuckled teasingly and came by her side, taking her hand. "Let's try calling them," he said and took out his phone. Just then he noticed that the battery had died.

"Oh no," Meredith groaned as she saw that. "And I don't have my phone with me."

"Let's not worry," Derek reassured her. "We'll wait for them for a little longer and if they don't show up, we go in town for help. Charlie and your dad know this place very well."

"But it's late, Derek," Meredith freaked out.

Derek sighed and nodded discreetly. He put his arms around her and asked, in attempt of cheering her up and distracting her, "Do you want to go look for your panties?" he burst into laugh when Meredith gasped and slapped him playfully. "We could send Doc to go and find the others."

"Sure," Meredith rolled her eyes sarcastically. "We wouldn't be worried about the others only."

"He's a good dog, Mer," Derek chuckled. Doc let out a bark, happy with his master's praise. "Come here," he took her by the hand as he walked over to a lounge chair and motioned for her to sit down. He disappeared inside their tent down and came out seconds later with their blanket. He made himself room in the chair, behind Meredith, and spread the blanket over them before he wrapped his arms around her.

Derek turned the flash light off, leaving them in complete darkness, perfect to be able to watch the bright sky and its stars.

"This is beautiful," Meredith breathed out. "I think the last time I watched a sky like this was 5 years ago in Spain."

"You traveled a lot," Derek noticed.

"I did," she nodded.

"Would you like us to move somewhere sunnier?" Derek asked her.

Meredith didn't answer right away, not being very sure if she liked that idea. "How about your land?"

"Our land," Derek corrected her. "We could sell it," he answered, although he could see she was not thrilled with that suggestion. "It was just a suggestion."

"You don't like it here in Seattle?" she asked him, a little hesitant.

"I do like it here," he answered. "I was just asking you. Forget I suggested it," he said and placed a kiss on her cheek. "We didn't get the chance to talk about our son."

"What?" Meredith stirred, turning and looking at him.

Derek chuckled as he brushed the hair out of her face. "We talked about our daughter; brunette and green eyes. How about our son?"

"Derek," Meredith giggled sheepishly. "You might be disappointed if your daughter won't have dark hair and green eyes."

"Of course I will be disappointed. I wouldn't like to have … a brunette daughter with brown eyes. Neither of us has brown eyes," he pointed out.

Meredith started laughing. "I see your point, but maybe she will be blonde and have green eyes."

"That could work too," Derek agreed. "She would look like her mommy."

Their whole conversation about babies left Meredith with warm feelings, but she also had to admit to herself, "I can't imagine myself as a mom."

"Why is that?" Derek asked her.

Meredith shrugged her shoulders. "I never tried to imagine how it will be."

"I imagined it once," Derek admitted. "I think it was in our second day as husband and wife, while we were still figuring out what to do next."

Meredith was caught off guard with Derek's statement. "How did it feel like?" she asked.

"It felt… right. You seemed to me like you could be a good mother."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Derek shrugged. "It just feels easy to imagine you as a mommy."

"But still. Why?" Meredith insisted, confused.

"I don't know."

"Then how can you know how it really feels?" Meredith asked. "I do not understand anything."

Derek sighed and held Meredith tighter into his arms. "You don't have to. It's too early for us to have babies anyway. We haven't our first six months together yet."

"Good, because you were becoming annoying with all the talk about babies," Meredith grumbled. "And our son will have my hair, your eyes and your curls. And we will let his hair grow," she added and then let out a giggle."

"Cute," Derek chuckled, kissing her on the cheek again.

"I know."

It wasn't long before Doc jumped up, watching ahead, alerted. Then it was when they heard people coming. They stood up quickly and Derek turned the flash light on to see that it was their group indeed.

"Where have you been?" Meredith asked her friends and cousin.

While Meredith took Lexie, Cristina and Izzie aside, Derek went to talk to Preston. "Where have you been for so long?"

Preston chuckled and smirked. "We walked around. We gave you time to finish."

"Time to finish? Oh no," Derek groaned.

"That's fine. We didn't see anything. Hearing was too much anyway," Preston added with a chuckle.

"Don't tell Meredith, please," Derek asked.

"I won't but…" Preston winced as he looked towards Cristina and Meredith. Derek saw Meredith looking embarrassed at them. Preston looked away quickly and chuckled as he patted Derek's shoulder. "I'll go help with the fire."

"I can't believe this," Meredith groaned, shaking her head.

"Hearing isn't such a big deal, so don't feel embarrassed," Izzie commented. "Was it good, at least?"

"Ignore her," Lexie giggled when Meredith rolled her eyes.

"How are you feeling?" Meredith asked her then.

"Better," Lexie smiled. "The whole hiking helped me a lot. I am just very hungry."

In that moment, everyone started gathering around Meredith. Derek came by her side, same as Ellis. Meredith could read apologies in her mother's eyes as she stopped beside her and put a hand on her back. Meredith smiled reassuringly and nodded. Whatever had happened 27 years ago it was all gone, because she did have a mother and a father after all.

Thatcher made his way in the center, holding a cake in his hands, moment when everyone started singing 'Happy birthday'.

"Make a wish," Derek whispered in her ear.

Meredith hadn't thought about what to wish for her next birthday, so she made the first wish that popped into her head; to talk about babies with Derek some other time too.


	31. I love you

Though she had enjoyed the great outdoors, waking up in the woods the next morning didn't give Meredith a bright mood.

Her head felt heavy and each sudden movement was sending her into a spiny sensation, her entire body ached and the worst, she was feeling nausea to her stomach. Her stomach felt deeply each bump on the road as Derek drove them back home.

"You don't look good," Derek stated at some point, very worried. Keeping his eyes on road, he took her hand and gave it a light squeeze. "I told you that bathing in the cold water wasn't good."

Holding her head against the window, Meredith rolled her eyes, too tired to groan.

"No blame thrown on me for the sex, please," he added jokingly.

"You tempted me," Meredith grumbled quietly.

"I am too irresistible," he chuckled now. Derek glanced at his right and saw no change in Meredith's state. Just then he knew how bad Meredith was really feeling. "I'll talk to Richard and tell him to give you the day off as you're too sick to work today."

Meredith just nodded. Her gaze moved out the window and watched for a while the landscape running past them. It would have been a beautiful landscape to admire if Derek wasn't driving so fast and if the speed didn't feed the nausea so much. Trembling, her fingers touched Derek's hand while she put her hand to her mouth and asked, "Please stop."

Derek pulled the car on the side of the road right away and Meredith was outside the next second. He hurried outside as well and went to her side, holding her hair as she threw up.

When he put his cold hand to her forehead, Meredith felt it like a heaven touch. As she was done with the vomiting, Derek brought her into his arms and they leaned against the car, refreshing Meredith with the cold morning air.

"Mer?" he asked her softly. "Are you sure you're not pregnant?"

Meredith couldn't think about the reasons, so she just shrugged. Derek rubbed his hand against her arm, comforting her.

Meredith started feeling better already. They were alone on the road as the rest of the group headed in different directions, so they took their time and stayed a little bit longer outside.

"I am taking you to the hospital," Derek decided.

"There's no need to," she muttered. "Besides, you're doctor too."

Derek smiled. Of course he liked the idea of attending Meredith's bedside, but he was responsible enough to know that she needed a better care; care he couldn't offer her at home and without some tests.

"Let's not argue. You're not a little girl anymore to be afraid of doctors."

Meredith sighed soundly. "I never liked doctors."

Derek chuckled at her answer. "Good thing you became one."

"No really," Meredith made an effort to turn her head and look at him. "My mom was doctor and we had a lot of doctors coming to our house, but when I was going to the hospital and I was seeing them all dressed in their white lab coats, I was started shivering of panic."

Derek looked at her, very surprised with the confession. "How can you stand being dressed in a lab coat?"

A small crooked smile showed up on her face. "Now I feel like I have the power."

Derek laughed, shaking his head.

"Take me home first. I need shower and a warm, comfortable bed to relax," Meredith pleaded.

He smiled at her and agreed with a nod from his head. "Do you remember how you used to complain about each single thing from the trailer?"

"I am too sick to complain now," Meredith muttered.

"Ok, I am taking you home, but if by noon you don't feel better, we're going to see a doctor," Derek told her and left no room for another comments.

At the trailer, while Derek unpacked their things and fed Doc, Meredith went to take a shower. Maybe there had been times when she didn't like so much their small shower cabin, but now, when she could leaned against its wall and let the shower stream massage her body, she liked it this small. Nausea seemed to be fading again, but there was still ache in her body. She couldn't tell exactly what was bothering her more; the ache from her neck for sleeping with her head on Derek's chest all night, the ache from her shoulder for not being able to lay comfortable in the tent they had shared with Lexie and Izzie, or the sharp pain that struck her abdomen, probably for playing with her feet in the cold water. The hot water was still relaxing though and she was grateful to Derek for not hurrying her outside and for letting her sit in the shower until the whole hot water was gone.

Meredith wrapped herself into a towel and stepped out of the shower, steaming. It wasn't cold in the trailer, but her heated body sensed right away the big temperature difference. She shivered and hurried to the bed, lying down along of it. She curled then in the fetal position and closed her eyes, hoping the pain would soon vanish.

That's how Derek found her when he walked back inside. He shook his head and walked up to the bed. "Put some clothes on, Mer and get under the quilt."

Meredith moaned sleepily in protest. Derek wasn't going to give up so easily. "Seriously, Meredith. You're like baby right now." He took her by her arm and made her stand up, also looking around for some clothes to give her to wear.

"You're saying yesterday that you wanted a baby. Now you get to experience the parenthood," Meredith grumbled, standing pouted as she waited for Derek to give her some clothes.

Experiencing parenthood on Meredith was not that hard to imagine or to do. Derek helped her get dressed and get under the quilt. "Would you like some soup?" he asked her, brushing her hair as he stood beside her at the edge of the bed.

"No. I like it spicy. You never make it spicy," she muttered.

Derek took no offense from that. He leaned down and gave a soft kiss to her lips. "Your stomach is too sensitive for spice food right now."

Meredith felt a new wave of nausea and this time she knew she couldn't held it back. She half stood up and told Derek, "Bring me a bucket."

He couldn't find a bucket, but he brought her a paper bag. Derek stood down on the bed beside her, waiting for her to finish with the puking. Once she was done and Derek disposed the bag, he returned at her bedside and threw the quilt off her.

"Let me examine you," he decided. He first checked her ganglion, her temperature and then tried to feel her liver. When he wanted to press his fingers under her ribs, Meredith winced in pain. Just then Derek noticed the tenderness on her abdomen.

"Oww," Meredith cried when Derek took his hand off her abdomen. Derek had a presumptive diagnosis then.

"Did you ever have appendicitis?" he asked her.

"What? No. Why? Do you think I have appendicitis?"

"You might," Derek nodded. "Don't go anywhere." He said, quickly standing up from the bed.

"Like I could," Meredith rolled her eyes, grumbling.

Derek returned right away and scooped her up onto his arms. "Be good, Doc. We'll check on you later," he told the dog as he carried Meredith outside.

Meredith saw the backseats door opened. "But Derek, do you think it could really be appendicitis?"

"It could, that's why you need to do some tests," Derek told her, carrying her to his car. He put her in the backseats and let her lay there. "Would it comfort you if I do the surgery?" he asked her jokingly.

"Yes please," she whimpered.

Derek just smiled and shut the door, getting in the drive seat. He looked through the rear-view mirror and smiled sympathetically at Meredith's face painted with pain. "We'll get to the hospital soon and I promise you'll attend the best care."

"Are you trying to be flirty?" Meredith giggled through whimpers of pain. She had her arms tightly wrapped around her abdomen.

"Just relax," Derek told her as he saw her struggling to stand up. "If some flirt will make you feel better and stand the ride to the hospital, then I am all for it," he chuckled as he turned the ignition on.

Meredith was in no condition of flirting with Derek, so he just hurried to drive her to the hospital.

--------

Lexie and Cristina stood at Meredith's bed, side by side, both watching Meredith, while Meredith was staring back at them.

"Should I tell her now?" Lexie asked Cristina, whispering and chewing nervously her lip.

Meredith giggled at them.

"Better not," Cristina answered. "The morphine has kicked in already. You'd have to tell her two times then."

Lexie sighed loudly as she worryingly kept watching Meredith.

Meredith giggled at them again.

"They were generous with the doze," Cristina noticed. And Meredith giggled again. "Meredith, the giggling doesn't say the best of you. Use words. Wise words preferably."

"I am having appendicitis," Meredith giggled.

"That's a start," Cristina encouraged her.

"And Derek brought me to the hospital," Meredith went on ecstatically. "He's a good man. See, Lexie? I was lucky. You and Mark on the other hand…" she shook her head, wincing. "Wrong. Derek is a good husband. Handsome too. Mark's handsome too, but as for husband… not so good. I was lucky. Yes. I was very lucky."

"You were very lucky," Lexie and Cristina agreed.

"How long do you we have to watch her?" Lexie anxiously asked Cristina, in whisper. "She will soon start talking about her sex life and I can't stand hearing about sex anymore. I am all against sex."

"You are, but I am not," Cristina replied, with vivid interest now. "So, Mer… you say he's a good husband, huh?"

"Yes," Meredith nodded her head firmly.

Cristina smiled crookedly. "Why is he?"

"Oh Cristina," Lexie whimpered.

"What? You embraced chastity too late," she replied, glancing down at Lexie's abdomen.

Lexie wrapped her arms around her abdomen, frowning.

"Do you want me to tell you about my sex life?" Meredith laughed highly.

"Yes," Cristina beamed.

"No!" Lexie protested. "You don't have to, Mer."

"I don't have to," Meredith nodded. "But I want to."

Lexie replied with a whimper while Cristina grinned with satisfaction.

"Don't keep anything out," Cristina encouraged Meredith, whose nervous system was over-taken by morphine now. She took a seat down onto the bed beside Meredith. She said, looking back at Lexie, "Derek asked us to stay with her until he gets back."

"Derek does that," Meredith sighed. "He's a great husband. I was so lucky to find him."

"Yeah, yeah, you already said that. Now I want to hear something that actually might excite me," Cristina insisted.

While Meredith had her tests run, Derek went to call Ellis and Thatcher to let them know about Meredith's condition. As Ellis had to be at work and Meredith had appendicitis only, Thatcher was the one to come and visit Meredith.

Derek had just greeted Thatcher and they were just arriving to her room when Cristina said that. Derek made a sign to stay outside the room and be quiet; both listened to whatever Cristina wanted to find out from a druggie Meredith.

"Mer," Cristina patted Meredith hand when Meredith looked absent-minded.

Meredith was absent-minded indeed. "It's been so long since I met Derek," she started musing. "Actually, not that long, but still… it feels like I've known him for a life time." She looked at Cristina, but saw through her as she went on. "It's exciting being with him. I live in a trailer," she added with a smirk. "Which is not so bad. You don't have too much cleaning to do. And we have a dog. Doc's our baby." She went into a brief silent meditation again. "I wonder who gets his custody if we divorce. But no. I don't have to think about divorce. I have no reason. Yet. We're getting close to six months and that's scary." Meredith looked at Cristina, worried. "What if he won't want to stay married to me after six months?"

"That would suck, but let's think about something… cheering," Cristina insisted.

"Cheering," Meredith giggled highly. "Yeah," she sighed with a smile on her face. "I make good friendly muffins. Friendly muffins. That's my brand. I could make a business with it."

"Yeah, friendly business," Cristina nodded, now boring.

"No. Not friendly business. Friendly muffins." Meredith corrected her.

"Sure," her friend nodded. "Very friendly."

"Very friendly and also very delicious," Derek cut in, making his presence and Thatcher's noticed as they walked into the room.

"Derek," Meredith squealed. "Daddy!"

Thatcher laughed as he walked at Meredith's bedside. "You haven't called me Daddy since you were six," he lovingly brushed the hair out of her face and planted a soft kiss on her forehead.

Derek walked up at the other side of the bed, smiling down at Meredith. "I must say, I am impressed with the few praises I heard about me."

"They weren't praises," Meredith giggled.

"They weren't," Lexie and Cristina agreed with Meredith.

"Did she say something bad about me before I arrived?" Derek pretended to be hurt.

"No," Lexie smiled.

"Yes," Cristina nodded.

"No," Meredith whimpered. "I didn't say anything bad about you."

Derek leaned down and gave her a kiss. "I was sure you didn't."

"I could never say something bad about you. Cristina wants to find out details about our hot sex," she soon diverted from the main topic. "Could we do it again?" she asked Derek excitedly. "But let's do it in the summer time because I don't want to freeze again. As hot as the sex is, I am still freezing outside."

Thatcher cleared his throat, visibly embarrassed.

Meredith bit her lip sheepishly as she smiled at her father. "I think I just mentioned sex in front of my dad," she muttered.

"That's fine," Thatcher reassured her, still pretty embarrassed.

"Grey!" Dr. Bailey's scold drew everyone's attention to the door. Dr. Bailey shook her head as she entered the room. "No matter how drug you are, you talk respectfully when one of your parents is in the room."

Meredith sighed loudly. "Yes, Dr. Bailey."

"Good girl," she patted her hand, smiling at Thatcher and Derek. "Now would you please excuse us? We have to prepare her for surgery."

"Sure," Thatcher nodded and said to his daughter, "We'll be here when you wake up."

"What if I don't wake up?" Meredith gasped. "You have to tell the anesthesiologist to be careful with the anesthesia?" she told Bailey and then Derek. "You won't have any intern scrubbing in, right?" she asked Dr. Bailey.

"It's a teaching hospital, Meredith, but…"

"No," Meredith stopped her. "You can't have an intern see my intimate parts. Tell her she can't," she demanded to Derek, slapping his hand.

"There won't be any," Dr. Bailey reassured her. "I'll perform the surgery."

"Ok," Meredith sighed, more relieved now. "Make sure you cut the right thing and make sure you invert everything at the right place. Oh and make sure you don't forget any instrument into my abdomen. That would suck."

"Meredith," Derek stopped her, talking softly to her. "Dr. Bailey will make sure she returns you to me safely."

Meredith made him a sign to bend closer to her. "Did you threaten her?" she asked him in whisper.

"I did," Derek whispered back.

"Good," she sighed. "Then we can go now," she told Bailey.

"I will see you in the OR," Dr. Bailey said and left the room.

Left alone in the room, they had a minute before the nurse would come and take her.

Meredith took Derek's hand. She was still on drugs, but the look in her eyes and her voice seemed more sober. "Derek?"

Derek sat down onto her bed. "Are you scared?"

"A little," she shrugged. "You can watch the surgery."

"Ok," he chuckled.

"Derek?"

"What is it, Meredith?" he asked softly.

"Derek," she paused briefly before she added quietly, "I love you."

Derek found himself smiling dumbfounded at her. He took her hand and kissed it. That was the moment when a nurse entered the room, coming to take Meredith in the OR. Derek stood up from her bed and before the nurse started wheeling Meredith, he leaned down to her ear and whispered, "I love you too."

"Good," Meredith giggled.

Derek chuckled and leaned to her ear again. "And I hope you'll remember this when you come out of morphine."

"Good," Meredith answered with another giggle.

Derek watched the nurse taking Meredith and sighed. He knew she wouldn't remember, but he had no doubt that deep down she had meant those three words.

-----

As he came out of a consult, Derek stopped in front of the OR board to check its status. A certain name had his immediate attention.

'_Meredith Shepherd'_

Derek had a strong flutter in his stomach as he read the name again. Besides their marriage license, he hadn't seen Meredith's new last name written elsewhere. It was also the first time, inside the hospital, that Meredith used his name. Derek felt like they were officially married to everyone now.

Derek was staring intensively at the name when out of nowhere a sponge started wiping it off the board. Derek started and looked questioningly at the nurse, which had showed up unobserved at his side.

"Is it over?" he asked her.

The nurse looked up and nodded. "The surgery went well, Dr. Shepherd. Mrs. Shepherd will be taken to her room soon."

Derek's heart fluttered again. 'Mrs. Shepherd' he chuckled quietly and nodded at the nurse.

As he turned around, wanting to go and find something to do until Meredith would be in her room, Derek froze in the spot.

Down the hall, there were two women. Derek stared at them for a moment, not believing it was real.

When the petite woman with short hair met Derek's gaze, she gasped and beamed, waving her hand in the air. "Derek!"

The other woman, taller, with long red hair, turned and smiled as she saw Derek.

"Derek!" the woman with short hair hurried towards him and she soon had her arms around his neck.

"Nancy?" Derek chuckled, dumbfounded, as he wrapped her into his arms.

"What are you doing here? Why didn't you call first?" he asked her.

"I am here to do million of things," Nancy stated, pulling back from the embrace. "I could not believe when mom came back to New York and said that she had left you still married. I had to come and see the situation myself."

"Oh so you came to cause trouble," Derek smiled sarcastically.

"If I have to," she chuckled.

"You won't have to," he replied, more coldly now. "Why can't you come with cheering and great mood?"

"Because my brother was stupid enough to get married with the first slut that came out in his way."

"Ok, you need to get back on your broom and fly home. If your broom is broken, then I will buy you a new one. I will buy you two. Just leave," Derek warned her.

"It's not such a dramatic thing, Derek," Nancy shook her head. "I am also here with business. Addison and I are attending a conference about neonatology here in Washington. I had to stop by and visit you."

"You didn't really have to," Derek rolled his eyes. For the first time since he met them, Derek looked up at the redhead. "Addison," he smiled.

"Hello, Derek," Addison smiled.

They both made a few clumsy movements and awkwardly kissed on the cheeks.

"How are you?" Derek asked her.

"I am good; and I am here for the conference only," she wanted to reassure him.

"Thank you," Derek chuckled and sighed with relief.

"Now I want to meet Meredith," Nancy stated.

"You're very determined," Derek noticed.

"I have no time to waste," his sister replied.

"Then why don't you just leave?" he asked. "Meredith just had a surgery and she needs recovery."

"Surgery?" Nancy and Addison asked at the same time, a little worried.

"Appendectomy," he answered.

"Oh," they replied then.

"Hmm," Nancy mused.

"I don't want to know," Derek shook his head.

"Appendectomy," Nancy went on. "So… did she just finish junior high?"

Addison tried to hide her smiled and elbowed Nancy, "Nancy."

"If your medical knowledge isn't as limited as you let me think they are, then you wouldn't make such comment," Derek replied sharply.

"Fine," Nancy seemed to give in. "That was mean of me. How is she feeling?"

"She's feeling fine, I hope. Why don't you leave, so that she can do great?"

"We're leaving," Nancy chuckled. "Only to eat something."

Nancy took Addison and left together, leaving Derek in the middle of the hallway, confused and wondering how would he get rid of his annoying sisters.

"Friends?" Thatcher's question brought him out of his thoughts.

Derek looked over his shoulder at Thatcher, who was also watching the two women leaving.

Derek sighed and replied lifelessly, "Sister and ex-girlfriend."

"Oh," Thatcher breathed and repeated the sound, with a tent of disgust this time, "Oh." And looked sympathetically at Derek like telling him he was in trouble now.

"Yeah," Derek sighed and nodded.

"I heard that the surgery ended," Thatcher said.

"Yes," Derek sighed again and turned to him. "Let's wait for her in her room."

-----

Derek stood in a chair beside Meredith's bed, waiting for her to wake up. When her eyes started to flutter open, Derek took her hand.

"Hey," he whispered in her ear.

Meredith smiled tiredly, "Hey."

"How are you feeling?"

"Sleepy," she answered with a yawn. "I survived," she sighed with relief and giggled. As she giggled, Meredith also winced at the pain.

"Does it hurt?" he asked her, worried.

"A little."

"It will pass," he encouraged her.

"I know," she smiled.

Derek kissed her hand and looked lost in her eyes.

"What?" she asked him, confused with his intense stare.

"Nothing," Derek shrugged, but couldn't stop from smiling. Her words still echoed inside his head.

"Oh no," Meredith whimpered. "I embarrassed myself. Did I embarrass myself while I was under the morphine?"

"Absolutely not," Derek chuckled.

"I did," she sighed.

"No, you didn't. Seriously."

"Then why are you smiling this way?"

"I am not smiling either way," he replied with a kiss dropped on her hand.

"Ok," she smiled sleepily. "Derek? Why are those two women staring at me?" she asked, her eyes fixed on the window that separated her room from the hallway.

Derek followed her gaze and groaned inside of him as he saw Nancy and Addison standing by the window watching them.

"They are not staring at you," Derek told Meredith.

"Yes, they are," Meredith gasped and looked at Derek. "Who are they? I don't remember them. Am I suffering of amnesia? Has the surgery affected my memory? That's not possible, because the appendix is not inside the brain."

"Mer," Derek laughed at her ramble. "Your memory is just fine. Those two must be some of my fans."

"Fans?" Meredith asked, frowning.

"Yeah, and they're waiting for an autograph," Derek grinned, proud of her frown.

"Tell them you lost your pen and you can't sign without your pen. Don't sign autographs, please," she managed to mumble through a yawn.

Derek gave her a kiss on the forehead, saying, "Take some rest. I will be around."

Meredith answered with a tired nod and her eyes slowly closed. Once he was sure she was asleep, Derek stood up and went to deal with the two guests.


	32. Jealousy is good

**Chapter 32 – Jealousy is good**

Luckily for Derek, his sister and Addison had a meeting that day in the evening, so he didn't have to see them for the rest of the day. Between consults, Derek went to check on Meredith. Lexie, Cristina and her other friends made sure they keep her company also, but Meredith slept most of the day.

It was dark outside and only a dim lamp was lighting the hospital room while the rain was pouring outside. Derek stood beside Meredith's bed, reading a magazine under the dim light as he waited for Meredith to wake up.

When a thunder broke under their window, Meredith stirred and awoke. She moaned sleepily, rubbing her nose.

Derek smiled as he stood up and leaned over her bed. "Was the anesthesia so strong?"

Meredith moaned, shrugging her shoulders. She closed her eyes again and yawned. She opened them again when Derek took a seat on her bed and took her hand and smiled wearily. "I am thirsty," she muttered in a horse voice.

Derek nodded and hurried to fill a cup with water, helping her sip from it then. He put the cup aside on the nightstand and then he took his seat back beside her on the bed.

"Your mom hasn't shown up yet," he wanted to inform her.

Meredith smiled knowingly as she answered quietly, "I know. I am not expecting her anyway. It was just appendicitis after all."

Derek wanted to smile sympathetically, but Meredith shook her head, not letting him. "I know what to expect from my mom. She will call today or tomorrow."

"Your dad left earlier," he told her.

"Lexie is pregnant," she replied then.

Derek nodded. "And Mark just called me to tell me that he had landed to Seattle."

"He did?" Surprise was written on her face. "Did you tell him?"

"No," Derek shook his head. "I asked Lexie to do it."

"And he has actually came to deal with this?"

"Apparently," Derek shrugged.

"She doesn't know what to do, Derek," Meredith sighed. "Do you think Mark will tell her the right thing to do?"

Derek was silent for a moment. "I don't know."

"It sucks for her," Meredith sighed, shaking her head.

"It does." Derek took a deep breath then as he tried to get some courage and let Meredith know about the unexpected visit of his sister Nancy and his ex-girlfriend Addison. "My sister is here," he said.

"Your sister is here too? Meredith asked, confused. "What does she have to do with Lexie's pregnancy?"

"Nothing," Derek smiled at her presumption. "She's here at a conference."

"Which of your sisters?"

"Nancy."

Meredith tried to remember what Derek had told her about Nancy. "Oh. She's the divorced one."

"That's right."

Meredith smiled wearily again and mumbled, "So she's going to hate me. Wait. No." she stopped him when Derek wanted to reply. "She's not going to hate me. She's just not going to like me."

"Now don't say that," Derek disagreed. "Why you women have to think that you can be friends?"

"Because she's newly divorced. Or not so newly anymore, but anyway… I am newlywed to her brother."

"You know… actually we're not that newlyweds anymore either," Derek pointed out. "We have a few months together."

"She won't like me. I tell you," Meredith nodded knowingly.

"You tell me, but I don't believe it," Derek smiled, wanting to look reassuringly. Although he knew already that she was right. "You don't have to worry about her presence today. Get some rest."

"I just woke up," she pointed out. "I want the tube out of bladder and I want to stand up because my back is numb."

Derek came beside her and wrapped his arms around her as he helped her sit upright and adjusted the pillow behind her. "The tube stays inside."

"No, it doesn't," Meredith protested and without giving Derek time to react, she pressed a button to call a nurse.

"Meredith is night outside. What do you want to do you want to do all night?"

"Sit," Meredith replied. "You can sit with me if you want to. If not, I will sit alone."

Derek shook her head at her stubbornness. But she was right. She had slept during most of the day.

"You didn't check on Doc," Meredith gasped, also scolding.

"I did," Derek chuckled. "Meredith," he adopted a solemn attitude. "I am that perfect," he added, humor in his voice.

Meredith started laughing, but she quickly wept as she felt the pain of her cut.

Derek smoothed the wrinkles of pain on her forehead as attempt of comforting her.

"See?" she groaned, lying back against the pillows. "You're not that perfect."

Derek answered with a smile to her tease. "Izzie offered to watch him for a day or two."

"You're not perfect at all," Meredith shook her head. "Cristina is going to hung him on the balcony."

"No, she won't. Because I am that perfect," Derek chuckled. "She's scared of me."

"You're not that perfect," Meredith laughed, shaking her head.

That's how the nurse found them when she walked into their room, answering to Meredith's call.

**----------**

At Meredith's insistence, Derek slept into an on call room instead of the couch from her room as he had planned. He had received a call early in the morning and so he started his day in the OR.

"Hey!"

Derek had just walked out of the scrub room when he heard the familiar, annoying beam. "Mark," he muttered under his breath with a sigh and turned to his friend, trying to look happy to see him.

Mark was Derek's best friend, but Derek had a reason for finding Mark's presence there annoying. Mark was walking towards him accompanied by Nancy and Addison. Derek was getting slightly frustrated with Addison. She had no business with Meredith, so he couldn't understand why she had to show up at the hospital all the time.

"Look who I ran into at the hotel," Mark grinned, having his arms wrapped around the two women's waists.

"Oh yay," Derek beamed sarcastically.

Mark chuckled as he walked up to Derek. "So the excitement and fluffiness of your marriage is over already."

"Don't talk about my marriage and wipe the grin off your face because you have no reason to grin at me," Derek scowled.

Mark nodded and took a step back. Lexie's pregnancy was secret to everyone and apparently he was willing to keep it that way.

"What are you two doing here?" Derek greeted Nancy and Addison then, colder than necessary.

"Addison is here because your Chief asked her to see a patient and I am here because …" she paused briefly. "Derek, I will have to meet your wife at some point."

"Not really," Mark cut in. "Because they might not last. They haven't fulfilled the six months agreement yet."

"Mark," Derek snapped. "Get lost. Now."

Mark kept grinning teasingly. "Can I get lost anywhere in this hospital?"

"No," Derek answered.

"Nancy," Mark adopted a more serious attitude now. "Meredith is a fine girl. Give her a chance."

"You still have to get lost," Derek warned him, unimpressed with the help Mark wanted to give. "All of you." He growled.

He turned on his heels and walked away, going to buy some breakfast and see Meredith.

"She really is decent," Mark stated as they watched Derek leaving. "I didn't know who she was when I hit on her. She has a strong slap I must say."

"Try not to be so bitchy with her," Addison also seemed to take Meredith's side. "You'll scare her off."

"That's my intention," Nancy replied. "If she stands my bitchiness, then I'll give her a chance. What are you doing in Seattle anyway?" she asked Mark. "What was Derek talking about when he…"

Mark didn't let her finish the question. "I have work to do," he said quickly and hurried to leave.

**----------**

Later that morning, Meredith was in her room, sitting in the couch and browsing a magazine when she felt someone's stare outside her room. As she looked up, Meredith met Mark's grin. Meredith liked Mark despite his inappropriate remarks; he was a funny person to be around.

This changed though after his affair with Lexie.

Mark knocked at the door as he opened it and sneaked his head inside. "How's Mrs. Shepherd doing? Is she missing her appendix?" he asked, chuckling as he stepped into the room.

Meredith greeted him with her coldest glare. "How's that bastard of Sloan doing? Still screwing other people's cousins, taking them to Mexico for a fake marriage and knocking them up?"

Mark just smiled. "My face looks fragile against that lamp beside you, so I guess I will just get out of your face." And he ran backwards out of the room, closing the door.

Meredith watched him with hidden amusement. She saw him then running into one of the women she had seen in front of her room and by the way Mark smiled and talked to her, Meredith took a guess that it was Nancy. She asked herself then, who was the other women. Derek had mentioned about one sister visiting only.

There was another knock at the door and this time the door opened wider and the woman walked in. She held a polite smile on her face and a composed attitude.

"Meredith?" she asked her.

"Yes," Meredith nodded. "Nancy?"

"Derek told you," she noticed.

"He did."

Meredith was sure now that Derek's sister didn't like her. She had to look at the way Nancy was checking her to know that she and Nancy wouldn't be friends. Meredith shuddered at a wave of panic then. She wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and leaned against the couch.

"Take a seat," she told Nancy, pointing to the chair beside the couch.

Nancy took a seat on the bed instead. "What's your deal with my brother?" she asked her straight.

"My deal?"

"Don't look so surprised. I know you're not surprised," Nancy chuckled sarcastically.

Meredith didn't pay much attention to her sarcasm as her attention was caught by Nancy's familiar features. She looked so much like Derek; the chuckle was the same and even the smile, if Nancy wouldn't flash it so bitterly.

"So?"

"I know what you think of me," Meredith muttered.

"I am sure you do, but this still doesn't answer my question," Nancy retorted sharply.

Meredith couldn't feel more offended than now. "What do you want me to tell you?" she asked, almost sounding like she was pleading for endurance. But then the anger and offence built up enough and she burst, "Do you want me to tell you that I married him for his money or for his reputation as surgeon? I won't tell you this because it's not true. I have a trust fund from my parents which allows me to live more than decent. My mother is Ellis Grey and it is enough to use my last name to receive some credit when it comes to my career as surgeon. I don't want or need anything from Derek's fortune."

The same sarcastic chuckle escaped through Nancy's lips. "You didn't sign a prenuptial contract. You can say whatever it fits you now. You're all covered."

Meredith stared at Nancy, dazed. There didn't seem to be anyway of convincing Nancy of her honesty. She couldn't blame her though. She didn't have a brother, but she knew how she would feel if she did. Meredith swallowed her guilt as her eyes fell down with surrender and guilt. It wasn't a proper thing to do as this could prove Nancy she was right.

"We were both drunk when we did it," Meredith muttered. "We took advantage of each other that night."

"Ok, but you still haven't answered my question. What's your deal? What do you want from Derek? You can divorce now and receive a good part of his fortune. You're not thinking about babies I hope. You wouldn't use them for such thing when you can get enough money from him without a baby."

That hurt Meredith deeply. The guilt turned into disgust and the surrender into anger. "You're just a jealous bitch because you're divorced. And you know what? I don't have to give you any damn explanation. What Derek and I do with our marriage is our business only. Your mother didn't interfere in breaking us apart, nobody else did it and we're married for 4 months already. Why did you decided to come now? Go back and redo your life, leave our alone."

Nancy hadn't expected to such comeback from Meredith. She was staring speechless at her now. Meredith's words hurt too.

Despite Nancy, Meredith immediately felt remorse for what she had said. She softened her voice, but she wasn't going to apologize. "We're happy now. Why would I give up on happiness right now? We don't know how long we'll last together, but we'll keep being married as long as we're happy."

They fell into a very long and uncomfortable silence then as they looked down, offended by the other's words. Neither of them seemed to make the first step in breaking the silence and maybe have a decent conversation.

There was a knock at the door that saved both from the silence.

As Meredith looked up, she saw the redhead she had seen the previous day with Nancy.

"Hi," she flashed Meredith a polite smile as she sneaked her head inside. "Nancy, Dr. Grey is here. She's in Richard's office.

Nancy just nodded. She was still dazed by Meredith's words. She turned and looked at Meredith. "Your mother is here," she muttered. Then she turned to Addison. "Addison, come in. I don't think you met Meredith."

Addison sighed, discreetly shaking her head and disapproving Nancy's behavior. She stepped in though and walked up to Meredith's couch.

Meredith quickly started to think where she had heard this name. Derek had told her about Addison.

"Meredith, this is Addison Montgomery."

Derek's ex-girlfriend; it clicked to Meredith, the same time with Nancy's introduction, "Derek's ex-girlfriend."

Addison and Meredith awkwardly shook hands.

Meredith's eyes trailed up and down Addison's body, checking her. Derek had forgotten to mention how gorgeous his ex-girlfriend was.

"I'll meet you outside," Addison was ready to leave the room already. "It was nice meeting you, Meredith," she smiled at Meredith.

Meredith just smiled and nodded, still watching her perfection, her graceful movements and elegance.

Nancy seemed to have noticed the look on Meredith's face. That made her smile. It was a surprised smile, but also one of satisfaction.

"Jealous?" she asked Meredith.

"What?" Meredith shook her thoughts and looked at Nancy. "No. I am not. Jealous," she stumbled through words.

Nancy chuckled quietly, but this time there was no sarcasm in it. "Jealousy is good," she muttered to herself. It was good because jealousy also meant some strong feelings.

"What did you say?" Meredith asked her.

Nancy took a deep breath and took a seat down in the chair Meredith had pointed to her earlier. She put her purse aside and folded her hands on her knees, speaking as she watched her hands, "I am sorry for what I said. Probably you do know how it feels for me and my family. I know it's not your fault only. Derek…" she paused, letting out a short sigh, and looked at Meredith. "He does some stupid things when he's drunk. He… uh… How should I say this without making him look like a man with big issues? Let's just say that most of his affairs happened because of the alcohol. Now don't think the worst of him. He rarely drinks and gets drunk, but maybe you should keep an eye on him when he does it. Just to be sure."

Meredith was staring at Nancy, not knowing if to believe her or not. Derek did start his affair with Meredith while he was drunk and that's also how they got married. "So you're saying that I should watch out for a second wife?"

Nancy started laughing. "No. If Derek really likes you as it seems, then he wouldn't get a second wife. I overreacted I think; with the warning. Derek was with Addison for many years and he didn't cheat her once."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Nancy answered convincingly. "And you were also right about me. I am a bitch. I am a jealous bitch because I see people around me living what it seems like a fairytale, while my husband divorced me after 10 years for a young girl. Nobody knows the real reason, because the girl is underage and my family would send him to jail." With that, Nancy stood up. "It was nice meeting you, Meredith and I truly hope that you two found each other for good."

Stunned by the confession, Meredith watched Nancy heading to the door, unable to say anything else.

Derek walked in when Nancy wanted to walk out. "What are you doing here? What did I tell you, Nancy?" he growled nervously.

Nancy smiled and answered calmly, "Shut up, Derek."

"Nancy?" Meredith called her and Nancy looked back. "It was nice to meet you too. And I am sorry too."

Nancy just smiled. She smiled at her brother and gently patted his cheek. "I might see you again before I leave tonight."

"Ok," Derek answered, confused. No fire alarm started with the two women in the same room. He looked at Meredith and then he thought he had been wrong about the peace between them.

Meredith was staring blankly at the door, with a frown on her face.

"Ok, what happened?" Derek asked, expecting to hear complains about Nancy.

Instead of complains, Meredith muttered, "She's everything I am not."

"Oh no," Derek groaned, walking up to the couch. He sat down and took her hand. "What did she say to you? Tell me everything."

"What?" Meredith waked up from her trance and looked at Derek. "Nancy? Nancy didn't say anything. She's nice. I kind of like her. Not. She's ok."

"I'll still torture her even if you don't tell me."

"No. It's not about Nancy."

"Then?"

Meredith sighed and looked away, embarrassed. "You didn't tell me how gorgeous your ex is."

Derek stared at her, dumbfounded. "Addison? She's not that gorgeous," he chuckled. Meredith felt like he was mocking her, so she turned and glared at him. Derek stopped. "She's not," he insisted, not joking.

"Why… How… You ended up with me," she stammered.

Derek was confused. He didn't know exactly what Meredith's problem was. "Meredith, what's going on?"

"What's going on?" she retorted. "It's happening that your ex looks like Isabella freaking Rossellini."

Derek didn't know if he should be confused or amused. So he was both. "She does not look like her."

"No. She looks much better. Younger."

"Meredith," Derek smiled, shaking his head. "You're jealous."

"I am not jealous."

"Good, because you have no reason to be."

"I don't have any reason? Seriously?"

"So you're jealous," Derek concluded.

"I am not jealous," she argued.

"Because you have no reason to be," Derek wanted to make her understand him.

"I don't have any reason? Seriously?"

"Oh God," Derek groaned. "Fine. You're not jealous, but you have reasons to be jealous. Satisfied now?"

"This isn't funny, Derek. She's redhead. Tall. The cloths she's wearing today cost as much as my entire wardrobe. Those heels are so high that she could break her neck if she trips over and fells, but… she won't fall because she is very steady on those high heels. Look at me."

"I could look at you forever," Derek wanted to be charming.

"Don't look at me," Meredith argued. "Because if you look at me too much and then you look back at your ex, you'd feel grossed of me."

Derek pulled her into his arms, smiling. "Do you know how long she spends into a beauty salon? All the free time she has. Do you know how much money she spends on those clothes? She could open a pediatric clinic as she wants to, but she doesn't have time. Because she's at the beauty salon in her free time. What do you do with your free time?" he asked Meredith.

Meredith looked at him. He was waiting for an answer. Meredith shrugged. "I go out with Cristina and… I am with you."

"See? You're with me. Do you know how often she was with me? Not that often," Derek answered. "Besides, I love my trailer. She would hate the trailer. I love my trailer and you… you like my trailer."

"It's actually our trailer, because according to your sister, if we divorce I can get your trailer."

"Oh so you did have a nice talk," Derek chuckled.

Meredith giggled. "We're so different. Addison and I."

"That's why I didn't marry her."

"You didn't marry her because you weren't drunk," she pointed out. "Derek? Be honest. Do you have alcohol problems? Or had?"

"What? No."

"Are you sure?"

"I am very sure. I got drunk once and got married. It won't happen the second time."

"Are you sure?"

Derek rolled his eyes. "Absolutely."

"Good," she smiled with relief.

"What did you and Nancy talked about?"

"Husbands."

"Yeah. Some husbands suck."

"They do," Meredith nodded.

"Now what husbands are we talking about? Ex or present?"

"Ex," she giggled.

"Ex-husbands suck," Derek laughed.

The door opened and then came the question, "Do I hear divorce?"

They looked up and saw Ellis standing in the doorway with a paper bag in her hand. She walked in, closed the door and put the bag on the table.

"No divorce," Meredith answered. "We're just talking about ex husbands."

Ellis shook her head, disapproving. "You two are…" she paused as she didn't seem to find the right words. "You could talk about wiser things. You could teach her and help her a little," she told Derek.

"I'll do that," Derek chuckled.

"You do that," Ellis nodded. "How are you feeling, Meredith?"

"I am feeling good."

"Good. Because I brought you your favorite apple pie," she said, taking the pie out of the bag.

As he looked at Meredith, Derek saw the surprise in her eyes. She looked deeply impressed with it.

"You did?" she asked her mother.

"Of course I did," Ellis smiled.

"I didn't know you wanted an apple pie so much. I could have bought you one too."

Meredith giggled, slapping his arm. "Mom made it." She giggled and nodded her head as Derek looked surprised at her. "That's right. Like I have my brand of friendly muffins, mom has her brand of apple pie."

"I would call 'apple pie' my brand," Ellis chuckled. "Someone else invented before me. Would you like some piece?"

"No," Meredith smiled. "Not now."

"Derek?" Ellis asked Derek.

"I… I can't refuse my mother-in-law's pie, can I?" he stood up from the couch and went to the table.

Ellis just rolled her eyes and walked to the couch, taking Derek's seat. She and Meredith watched Derek taking a bite from her pie.

Meredith bit her lip and hid her smile. She knew what kind of pie her mother was making. She was still impressed with it though as it was nice gesture coming from her mother.

Derek forced himself to swallow that bite. "I. I have to go back to work now."

"You can have more," Ellis told him. "Meredith never eats more than a slice."

"I wonder why," Derek muttered under his breath, coughing.

"Derek is slightly allergic to apples," Meredith told Ellis, trying to excuse Derek and save him from another food poisoning.

"He is? Apples are not allergic fruits."

"Yeah well… it might be my fault," Meredith giggled. "I started cooking, you know."

"Then do it right, Meredith," Ellis scolded.

"I'll have more later on. I'll leave you two alone now," Derek excused himself, smiling at the calm and bright attitude between them.

Things seemed to be on the right track.


	33. Wine and Babies

**Chapter 33 – Wine and babies**

Having a little free time from work, Meredith went to find a quiet place for herself. It wasn't lunch time, so she thought she would find none down in basement. She was wrong as she arrived there and spotted a silhouette sitting on a gurney. As she walked slowly to that place, Meredith recognized Lexie.

She was sitting on the gurney, having her legs tucked beneath her and her head resting in her hands. Meredith thought she could be sleeping when Lexie didn't seem to notice her arrival – Lexie could sleep in the weirdest positions- but before she could reach to her gurney, Lexie stirred and looked up.

"Sorry," Meredith said quietly and hesitated before she hopped up next to her cousin. "How are you?"

Lexie sighed and, fixing a spot on the wall, stared blankly ahead. "I am…" she seemed to be convinced of her original answer, but she stopped and remained quiet.

Meredith watched her with sympathy. It had been almost 3 weeks since Lexie found out she was pregnant and almost 2 weeks since made the abortion. She had taken a week off after that, needing a break from everything, and came back to work in a better mood. Or at least, that's what she wanted to show. She had her times – like this moment now- when she looked down, distracted, depressed.

"Maybe you should talk to someone," Meredith suggested quietly.

"Meredith," said Lexie and shifted her big eyes from the spot on the wall to Meredith's eyes. "I made the right decision. I did. I don't need someone to constantly confirm it to me, because I know I made the right decision. I would have been a good mother, but Mark would have been a bad father. He's not ready for such responsibility and… and I don't think I am either. I mean… I am sure I am not ready. I am young, I have a career to focus on, to get it started and I have plenty of time to have children. It's just…" she sighed, unable to find the right word to describe the feeling.

Lexie used firm expression in her voice as she told Meredith all these. Maybe she had practiced it or she was feeling them indeed.

"I feel guilty," she finally seemed to have found it. She sighed and her voice became quieter.

Meredith slid her palm against hers and held her hand, comforting. Lexie squeezed it back and let her head fell on Meredith's shoulder, sobs escaping her lips. Meredith put her other hand on Lexie's forehead and leaned her head against hers. She didn't say anything and just let her release her tears and pain out.

It took Lexie a few minutes to calm down and stop the tears. She lifted her head from Meredith's shoulder and wiped her face. "Thanks," she told Meredith, sounding brighter now. "I needed that."

Meredith smiled reassuringly. "You can talk to me. Tell me everything you need to let out."

Lexie smiled with gratitude and tears seemed to threaten her eyes again. "I think I will go see a shrink. I consider this option too. I am not deeply convinced, but I know I did the right thing."

"Mark shouldn't have insisted," Meredith couldn't help but disapprove.

"He didn't, actually," Lexie disagreed. "I had taken this decision before he could talk to me."

Meredith just watched her and saw her calming down again. "Did you talk to my mom about this?" she asked, a little hesitant. Lexie looked at her and shook her head. "Then she would be so proud of you," Meredith tried to joke.

That brought a smile on Lexie's face.

"Did you tell your parents?"

"No," Lexie answered quietly. "But I told Molly. I don't want them to find out either," she looked at Meredith, waiting for her reassurance.

"Of course," Meredith nodded.

The conversation she had with Meredith seemed to have helped her indeed. She stretched her legs over the gurney, wincing as she felt the ache in the muscles.

"How's everything going between you and Derek?" she asked Meredith.

"I don't know," Meredith giggled. "We've been married for 5 months already and none mentioned the divorce."

"You love him, don't you?"

Meredith couldn't hide her smile and Lexie laughed teasingly, making her turn red.

"Just say it," Lexie insisted. "I know you love him. Why don't you say it? Say 'yes, I love him'!"

"Why would I say it to you when I didn't even say it to him," Meredith replied.

"Why don't you say it to him then?"

Meredith just shrugged.

"Did he say it to you?"

At that question, Meredith's smile faded a little and Lexie read some disappointment. "No. Not yet."

"Maybe he's shy," Lexie giggled. "You should tell him you love him."

"What if he doesn't say it back?"

"He will."

"Besides," Meredith shook her head. "Derek is anything but shy. When he has a thing to say, he says it."

Of course there was the moment in hospital, when she was due to have the appendectomy and she was under morphine, when she and Derek told each other about their feelings, but of which Meredith couldn't remember.

"4 months," Lexie said with admiration, smiling at Meredith. "Who would have thought?"

"You," Meredith giggled.

"I had my doubts, I admit," Lexie flashed an apologetic smile.

"I had a lot of doubts," Meredith admitted. "But it was fun. Derek is a great guy. He's caring, but not that over-protective type of man. He cares about me enough to make me feel comfortable."

"Will there be a real wedding?" her cousin asked her. "I mean, not real 'real'. But I still think you could call a minister and say your vows. Have a party. You don't have to wear a wedding dress; maybe just a special dress."

"Derek said there would be a wedding if we successfully fill out first 6 months together. He wants our families to have a wedding party."

"You should start planning it then," Lexie pointed out. "The time is running."

Meredith was shaking her head already. "Let's just wait for the 6 months to fill. We can have it after 7 months too."

"You still have some doubts."

"I don't," Meredith denied. "I just… I want to be precautious. Who knows what might happen."

"Since when are you superstitious?" Lexie giggled teasingly and she gave the answer too. "Oh I know. Since you fell in love with your husband and you're afraid of losing him."

Meredith was biting her lips, hardly holding back the giggle.

"See?" Lexie sighed and hopped down. "I had reasons to be jealous."

Meredith replied with a smirk of satisfactions. Who would have thought that such marriage could stand a chance?

-------

At the end of that day, most interns were snoozing on the benches in their locker room. Some of them satisfied with the cases they had attended during the day, others less cheerful.

"Why don't we go out and have a drink?" Cristina asked with sudden breathing in her body. "Let's get drunk," she suggested eagerly. She was one of those less lucky interns.

"Count me in," Alex agreed.

"Oh no," Cristina shook her head. "Girls night out only."

"Why?" George whimpered, also looking willing of some alcohol.

"You can come," Cristina agreed.

"So I am in too," Alex cut in.

Cristina glared at him. "I said, girls night out only."

That brought giggles between the others and George's protest. "Thanks."

Cristina decided to ignore him this time. "So?" she asked her friends. "Are you in?"

"I am," Lexie jumped up on her feet.

"I am too," Izzie agreed.

"I wouldn't miss," Meredith raised her hand too.

"Great, let's get going then," Cristina said, placing her bag on her shoulder and grabbing her jacket.

Meredith stood up too, took her jacket and bag. "Just give me a second to tell Derek."

"Give him a call," Lexie told her.

"His battery died," Meredith apologized.

As she heard that, Cristina turned to her friend, folded her arms across her chest and adopted a mocking attitude. "You need permission to go out."

"I do not," Meredith frowned, offended. "But we came together at work and he needs to know not to wait for me."

"You can ask a nurse to pass him the message. Or I saw Sloan around. Tell him," Cristina suggested.

She could do that indeed, but Meredith wanted to see Derek before she left. She hadn't seen him since that morning as their paths didn't cross anywhere that day. Because she didn't want to be mocked by Cristina, Meredith decided to see Derek later that night, hoping he would still be awake.

"Let's go," she said. "George, come with us," she asked him when he saw him pouting childishly.

"Yes, come," Lexie hung cheerfully on his arm. "We need a man's supervision."

"We do," Izzie and Meredith nodded.

That cheered George a little and convinced him to go with them.

"He's such a chick," Alex snickered as he walked past them and left the locker room.

"He's jealous," Lexie whispered to George.

They were down in the main lobby, ready to go out the doors, when Meredith stopped. The others stopped too, waiting for her. Meredith pretended to be looking through her bag.

"I forgot my cell phone upstairs," she sighed, without realizing that she was actually waving it in her hand.

Cristina wanted to point that out, but Lexie giggled and elbowed her not to. They all knew the real reason she was going upstairs again.

"We're going with Cristina's car," Lexie told her.

"Ok, I will meet you at car," Meredith nodded, happy that she could go back upstairs and see Derek.

She was in elevator when she realized she was holding the phone in her hand. Just then she understood her friends' amusement. Meredith giggled, embarrassed and decided not to care.

Meredith found Derek at the nurses' station, dressed and ready to leave.

"I was just asking to page you," he smiled as he saw Meredith. "Right on time."

Derek walked up to her and put an arm around her shoulders. "I am taking you out to dinner."

Meredith stopped and smiled apologetically.

"You're not hungry," Derek understood. "We can go out and drink something."

"We can," Meredith muttered.

Derek looked at her, curious. "What is it? You look like you've done a mischief."

"I didn't," she answered. "But I made plans with the girls. Sorry."

Derek chuckled and shook his head. "You don't need to ask me permission."

Meredith pulled back, frowning. "I wasn't doing that. I just came to tell you."

"You could have passed the message to a nurse or someone else."

Meredith's frown deepened. "I just wanted to tell you 'bye'," she grumbled. "You might not be awake when I come home."

Derek found her irresistible. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her. "I am so insensitive sometimes," he chuckled. "Have fun then. Try not to exaggerate."

"Why?" she smiled teasingly. "Do you think I could bring home a second husband?"

"A little precaution does no harm," he nodded. "I was just kidding. Have fun."

"I will," Meredith giggled. "We're going at Joe's so I could collapse into an on-call room if I can't make it home."

Derek looked a little worried at that thought. "Ok."

"Ok," Meredith giggled, also finding irresistible his worry. "Be good while I am gone."

"As always," Derek laughed. He gave her a kiss and let her go.

Derek watched her hurrying to catch an elevator and when the doors closed, Mark and Preston caught up with him.

"Mark is suggesting a drink," Preston told Derek.

Derek looked at them, amused. "Why is everyone suggesting a drink tonight? Meredith and the girls are going out too."

"Do you want to watch some girls drinking then?" Mark suggested, smiling knowingly.

"At Joe's," Derek nodded.

"Let's go." Mark took his friends and headed to Joe to watch some girls drinking.

----

Entering Joe's bar, the men made their way through the crowd to the bar, each of them trying to spot someone.

"Good evening, Docs," Joe greeted them. "What can I give you?"

Looking around, trying to find Meredith, Derek answered, "A single malt scotch."

"A beer," Mark ordered.

"One for me too," Preston nodded at Joe.

They sat down at the bar, still searching the crowded bar.

Joe snapped the drinks on the counter to make them pay attention and turn around. That only made them to turn briefly and grab their drinks. Joe shrugged and decided to leave them alone.

"There are too many girls drinking here," Mark noticed.

"Hey, Joe," Preston called the bartender. "Have you seen Cristina, Izzie?"

Joe shook his head. "Let me ask Steve if he served them." Everyone turned to the bar and watched Joe asking the other bartender about the girls and saw him shaking his head.

"If Cristina came with the idea, then I think I know where they are," Preston concluded.

They threw bills on the counter and waved at Joe, leaving the bar in hurry.

Preston took them to a bar near the apartment he was sometimes sharing with Cristina. Entering the bar, less crowded than Joe's, they immediately recognized some voices.

The girls where there indeed, sitting at the bar and laughing noisily.

The men smiled at each other and went to seat in a booth, into a private corner. They ordered their drinks and just watched towards the bar.

"They're drunk already?" Mark asked, surprised.

"They're probably having something strong," Preston nodded. "Tequila, I think."

At the bar, Meredith swallowed another shot of tequila, squeezing her eyes tightly as the liquid poured down her throat.

"It's been so long since I last had tequila," she confessed with a hoarse voice. "There was a time when I used to have tequila almost each night. Do you remember, Cristina?"

Cristina nodded and added, "There was also a time when you weren't married. Do you remember, Meredith?"

Meredith furrowed her brows and turned to her friend. "Do you have a problem with me being married?"

Cristina didn't bother at Meredith's question. She filled her shot and swallowed it at once. Then she shrugged her shoulders as answer.

"Because you seem to have," Meredith continued. "You're jealous," she nodded her head slowly, tipsily. "Derek and I have a relationship while you and Preston have… Uh… Do you have anything? I mean…" she breathed heavily and just as heavy she was finding the words. "I should stop with the tequila."

"Why?" Izzie whimpered, being the drunkest of them all probably. She grabbed the bottle and filled Meredith's shot, pushing it to her then. "Let them be jealous. I am. Shepherd is one fine man. Here's to Derek Shepherd," she toasted, slamming her shot against Meredith's and then drinking it all.

"And I am… Meredith Shepherd," Meredith giggled.

Izzie nodded, patting her on the shoulder. "Meredith Shepherd. Yes," she muttered.

"Derek is afraid… he is afraid that I might get married again and bring home a second husband tonight," Meredith stuttered, letting out a giggle then.

"No!" Her friends wanted to reassure her in unison.

"Who? You?" Cristina joked.

Meredith snickered. "But tequila is not for occasional marriages. It's for sex with strangers."

"That's right," Lexie agreed with her.

"That's right," Meredith agreed with herself too. "When Derek and I got married, we had lots of champagne. Champagne made us do the sin."

"Tequila is for sleeping with inappropriate people. Maybe for getting pregnant too," Lexie muttered.

Though he had refused firmly at first, the girls convinced George to have tequila with them. Probably not being used to something this strong, George he was the first one getting drunk and probably the first one who would pass out too. "It happens that… you vomit. A lot when you drink too much. My mom was sooo green… and spiny when she saw her couch."

"Beer caused vomiting," Meredith nodded. "But if you drink… if you drink too much vodka, you can end up in something… gayish."

"You do?" Izzie asked with sudden interest and curiosity.

Meredith shrugged.

"So far, the beer is the safest," Lexie drew a temporary conclusion.

"It is." Meredith answered. "Too much champagne," she said and showed them her wedding ring, "Too much vodka and I might start liking Izzie."

Izzie laughed and pursed her lips to Meredith, asking for a kiss.

Meredith pushed Izzie away. "Stay on tequila and find someone nice."

Izzie twisted around on the barstool to have a better view over the bar. There were groups of males, some of them already checking their group. She smiled as her eyes met a guy's from one of those groups.

"You wouldn't dare," Lexie giggled.

Meredith turned around eagerly, "Who is it?"

"The blonde guy that looks like Brad Pitt," Izzie kept smiling at her guy.

Her friends looked at each other and Cristina imitated the motion of swinging a shot. Everyone laughed and agreed. Izzie was too drunk to see that her guy didn't look even close like Brad Pitt.

"You say tequila leads to sex, huh?" she smiled. She hopped down the barstool and smirked at her friends as she headed towards the table where her guy was sitting with his friends.

George leaned to Meredith, who was closer, and asked, "Is it safe what she's doing?"

"It's not, but she's drunk and we're too drunk to go and stop her," Meredith answered.

"We're her friends," George grumbled and stumbled off the barstool, landing at Meredith's feet.

Lexie and Meredith, together with a helpful man, helped George get back on his seat.

"Who's next?" Cristina looked between Meredith and Lexie.

"Not me. Thank you," Meredith shook her head firmly. "I like my marriage."

"And I don't need another knock up," Lexie stated.

"Boring," Cristina shrugged.

"Why don't you try your luck?" Meredith challenged her.

Cristina pretended not to hear Meredith's question as in the same time she was taking another shot of tequila.

As they stood and drank, minutes passed and Izzie returned with a big grin on her face. She took a seat at the bar, between Meredith and Cristina, filling a new shot of tequila. Her friends watched as she sipped from it once and then a second time.

"Done with the tequila," she decided, slamming the shot on the counter. "Wine. What's wine doing?" she asked Meredith.

"I only experienced tequila and champagne," Meredith replied, bored.

"Wine," Izzie mused. "Wine is stylish, classic. Wine means…" she paused, clueless, and looked questioningly at her friends. But her friends looked too preoccupied with their drinks. Izzie tried to find the answer herself. "Too much wine means babies. Yes. If too much champagne leads to marriage, then too much wine leads to babies."

"Really?" Meredith seemed to have listened something from Izzie's mumble.

"Yes. It's not experimentally proved, but I assume it could lead to this." Izzie looked at Meredith, waiting for her approval.

In response to that, Meredith motioned to the bartender, "A bottle of wine for Izzie."

The bartender, a young man, with a black tight top that looked like it was squeezing his muscles out, leaned over the counter, smiling at Meredith. "Don't you girls think you have had enough?" he asked Meredith, stroking her cheek.

Meredith giggled at his touch and nodded. "I think we… yeah. We're a little dizzy." Then she leaned over the counter too and whispered. "No wine for Izzie."

"No wine for Izzie and no more tequila for you either," he smiled and took their bottle of the counter.

Cristina grabbed it in time, shooting him deadly glares, "I paid for this."

"No, you didn't," the bartender smiled calmly. "Not yet, anyway." And he hid the bottle under the bar.

"Hey," Cristina protested then and would have wanted to throw herself over the counter to find the bottle, but her body was too numb and soft for such effort.

The helpful guy which had helped George to stand up earlier, join their group together with other 2 guys.

"Let the girls have some fun," the 'helpful' guy cut in. "I'll make sure they get home safely."

The bartender looked at him with distrust and then looked at the girls. George was long passed out, so they were without any help.

Meredith turned around then, frowning at the guy that stood right beside her, with his hand resting on her back.

"You are not going to take any of us home tonight," she told him.

"Or maybe him," Cristina chuckled and shoved George.

The guy glared at their joke, but quickly brought back his smile. "You said it yourself; tequila requires a certain evening. Why not ending the evening properly?" he asked Meredith. "I can assure you that you'll end it properly," he added, smiling lustily and shifting his body closer to Meredith's.

Meredith giggled and slapped him away, letting her hand rest on his shoulder, while she waved her left hand in front of him. "Only he can end my evening properly."

"Sure," the guy the smiled like he knew better than that. "A group of single ladies, coming together with their gay friend at the bar to get drunk… it's a classic scenario."

"George is not gay," Lexie cut in, protesting. "You're gay," she accused childishly.

One of the guy's friends came closer to Lexie, having his attention.

"Besides, you can see it's a fake," he took Meredith's hand to look better at the ring.

Meredith pulled her hand back and frowned. "Of course it's a fake, because we didn't find good rings in Vegas. And you know what… get lost. I am not going to cheat my husband with you."

"And why not?" he asked her, continuing to tease her.

"Because I have no reason to," Meredith answered, shrugging.

"Hmm," he smiled, still not believing her.

Derek was on his feet already when he saw the 'helpful' guy approaching the girls' group together with his friends. He and Mark and Preston watched carefully the scene and waited for the right moment to interfere.

When Meredith shoved the guy away for the second time, they decided it was time to go and take their girls back.

Derek walked up behind Meredith and put his arms around her, glaring questioningly at the guy that had the nerve to hit on his wife.

Meredith jumped when she felt the pair of hands on her body, but she let out a squeal as she saw Derek. "Derek!"

She laughed and, taking Derek's hand, she turned victorious to the guy. "See? I will end my evening properly. Get lost now."

The guy had taken a step back at Derek's arrival and wanted to say something, but in the same time, Derek intertwined his left hand with Meredith's and showed him the rings. "They're the same, so you can leave now."

"You can all leave now," Mark cut in, threatening.

The group of guys scattered right away, grumbling something about hysterical boyfriends and alcoholic girlfriends.

"Derek," Meredith smiled at him.

Derek tried not to laugh. He brought some reproach in his voice as he said her name, "Meredith."

"Take me home, Derek," she stuttered, "I… I don't think I feel my legs. And. And that guy really pissed me off."

"Let's go home," he chuckled and helped her get off the barstool.

"No," she protested then, hanging on him to stay upright. "Our trailer. Let's go to our trailer. I love our trailer."

Derek stroked her hair to back, smiling and nodding, "Let's go to our trailer."

Meredith hung on his with both hands and stumbled as Derek paid for their drinks and then started walking her to the door. "My hero," he heard her mumbling. He smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Your knight in shining…"

"Yeah, whatever," Meredith stopped him. She stopped and pulled back a little, looking around. "George? Help George," she started calling.

"George!" Izzie started calling too.

"George is our friend," Lexie added.

"He's our gay friend," Cristina felt like she had to make a comment too.

Lexie, who was hanging on Mark together with Izzie, made a step ahead and kicked Cristina. "You're so mean."

"And you're all so drunk," Preston grumbled and pulled Cristina out of Lexie's track. "We're taking you to your cars and then we come back after George."

"You're gay." Lexie shouted after Cristina. "You drink vodka all the time. I saw you."

At that, Meredith, Lexie and Izzie burst into a hysterical laugh, while Cristina squirmed in Preston's hands to go after Lexie. Preston managed to hold her back. "We're all gay so let's just go."

Cristina gasped and stopped dead in her track, looking horrified at Preston.

"You're drunk, Cristina," he smiled reassuringly.

"Oh," she giggled and started walking again.

Because Derek and Meredith had other address than Lexie and Izzie, Derek drove away first. Meredith was standing at his right, with her eyes closed, looking as if she was sleeping.

"George!" Derek started when Meredith woke up screaming and had to regain his focus and keep the car on the road. "We have to take George!" she told Derek, alarmed. "He's still there."

"He's not." Derek assured her, shaking his head with disapproval. "Mark took him home."

"Are you sure?"

"I am very sure."

"Are very sure sure?"

Derek rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Because if you're not sure, then we should go back and check."

"We'll give him a call when we get home," Derek told her. "Now try and sleep."

Meredith leaned back in her seat and let out a loud sigh. "I am so dizzy."

"Why did you have to get drunk?" Derek couldn't help but reproach now.

"I didn't have to," she apologized whimpering. "Cristina filled the shots and everyone was drinking. Lexie was depressed, Izzie was depressed and Cristina was pissed."

"I hope you're not as dark and twisty as them."

Meredith smiled and shook her head firmly. As the fast movement was too much to take for Meredith's inflamed brain, she grabbed it with both hands, whimpering.

As the dizziness and the headache stopped, Meredith leaned her head against the car seat, looking at Derek and smiling. "I am bright and shiny."

"You are?" Derek laughed.

"I am," Meredith nodded once and slowly.

"But you're still drunk," he pointed out.

"Just a little." She sighed apologetically.

To have a little bit more comfort, Derek rolled Meredith's window down, letting the fresh air relax her head. Once he stopped the car, Meredith opened her door and stumbled outside. Derek hurried to get at her side to hold her and shut her door. She leaned over his arm then and started vomiting. Derek didn't say anything and just held her hair to back.

They heard Doc coming barking nervously at them and Meredith mumbled something incomprehensible.

"That's Meredith, Doc. She's sick," Doc stopped from barking as he recognized his master's voice and came to greet them, wriggling happily. Together with Derek, he walked Meredith to the trailer.

"Home!" Meredith squealed and then she waved her hand in air and shook her head. "Trailer!" she corrected herself, laughing.

Derek chuckled as he took his jacket off. Meredith turned around and fell into his arms, giggling.

"Derek?"

"What is it, Meredith?"

"Derek, I want to have a baby. Let's have some wine first and then let's make a baby."

Derek had to admit that he was a little disappointed now with Meredith's behavior. He was proud of her as she got drunk but she didn't go to the bathroom with a random guy as Izzie had done that evening; he really thought he could trust her that she wouldn't anything stupid when she's drunk. Apparently he had been wrong.

Derek wrapped his arm around hers and led her to their bedroom. "You don't want a baby, so go to sleep."

"But I do want," Meredith whimpered. "I want a baby with you."

"We don't have wine."

Meredith gasped. "Then maybe tomorrow."

"Maybe tomorrow," he nodded and muttered under his breath, "If you don't get drunk again."

Meredith crawled in bed and once she put the head down she was snoring. Derek covered her with a blanket and kissed the top of her head.

"Derek?" Meredith asked sleepily.

Derek came back to her and sat down on bed. "What is it?" but Meredith was either dreaming already or had woken up for a second only and forgot to tell Derek what she wanted. Derek placed a kiss on her cheek and Meredith sighed contently.

Derek turned the lights off in their bedroom and went to take a shower before joining her in bed. He was going to have a talk with her about wine and babies.


	34. When we'll be grownups

**Chapter 34 – When we'll be grown-ups**

It was early in the morning and Derek was in their small kitchen, making coffee and preparing something easy to eat for Meredith. As Meredith had confessed to Lexie, Derek was a caring guy, but not too caring as Derek let the alarm on and the clock at Meredith's bedside. Therefore, when the clock showed 5:30, the alarm blared and Meredith screamed, jumping upright instantly.

Doc also joined her torture as he jumped up in bed, cheerful and ready to help Meredith with some licks to wake up.

Meredith felt like her brain exploded. She desperately rolled in bed, from one side to other, trying to find where the alarm clock was. She hit it at some point, but the clock fell down on the ground. Doc jumped down the bed and pushed it to Meredith's hand. Her hands clumsily succeeded to shut it down. Even the silence was painful for her brain now.

Derek had watched the whole scene with amusement and also with satisfaction. That should serve Meredith a lesson and not have so much alcohol next time. He filled a mug with strong coffee and put a toast on a plate, bringing them to her bed.

Meredith was hanging over the bed's edge, whimpering quietly. Derek picked her up and helped her get on bed.

"Morning," he smiled down at her.

"Hmm," she forced a smile. "Thanks for not greeting me with 'good'"

"I am not that mean," he chuckled.

"I know," she smiled sleepily. She squeezed her eyes tightly and slowly tried to open them. The light was dim in their trailer, but her eyes still felt too tired to stand it. Meredith groaned and covered her eyes with her forearm.

Derek took her arm away. "Have some coffee."

"No," she whimpered. "Call them and tell them I am sick. Tell them I might die today."

"You're not going to die today, because you have to go to work," Derek insisted. "Come. Stand up and have some strong coffee and a delicious toast."

"No toast," Meredith grimaced.

Derek stood up and came at Meredith's side to help her stand up.

"Derek?"

"What?"

"I want to stay home today. Please!"

Derek smiled and shook his head. "No."

"Please. Please, Daddy!"

Derek started laughing. "You've been a naughty girl last night, so no favors for you."

"I was not naughty," Meredith grumbled. "I shooed that guy away, didn't I?"

Derek stared at her, surprised. "Do you remember what happened last evening?"

"Of course I do." Meredith hung on Derek's arm and took the mug from his hand. She took a short sip from the hot liquid and groaned silently as she already felt the caffeine reaching to her brain. "Good," she moaned.

"Here," Derek brought the toast to her mouth and she nipped from it. "And you actually remember what happened last evening?" he asked incredulously.

Meredith dramatically rolled her eyes. "I didn't pass out. This reminds me. I have to call and check on George."

"Eat first and drink your coffee," Derek bossed.

"Or what, will I be grounded until I go to college?" she giggled.

Derek smirked down at her. "It sounds tempting."

"Because I am not planning on going to college again."

Derek winked at her and motioned to Doc to come with him. "We're going outside. I want you fed and showered by the time we get back."

"Mhm," Meredith mumbled, sipping from her coffee.

As her stomach still felt the heaviness of the whole tequila she had drunk the previous evening, Meredith put the toast aside. Her head didn't feel comfortable either, so after one more sip, she put the coffee on the nightstand too, and she lay down on bed.

That's how Derek found her after he came back with Doc. He shook his head with disapproval and walked up to the bed. He grabbed Meredith's legs and pulled her half down from bed.

"Derek," Meredith cried out.

"Seriously, Mer. I let you sleep enough. Take a shower and let's go."

"Shut up," Meredith whimpered, sinking her face into a pillow.

"Meredith, you'll be on scut the whole week if you don't get at work in time," Derek warned her.

"How do you know?"

"I know because I am your boss at work and today when I get there I will ask for your service and as you won't be there, I will ask Bailey to put you on scut for the rest of the week."

Meredith lifted her head from the pillow and looked up at Derek. "You wouldn't."

"Just watch me," he shrugged. "I am cleaning in kitchen and then I leave. Decide if you will be ready by then."

As Derek didn't leave room for any compromise, Meredith dragged herself out of bed and trailed to the shower. She felt the shower a torture, therefore she was out soon. She threw some clothes on her and she was ready in time.

Walking out the trailer, Meredith's eyes shut at the strong gray light of the morning.

"Don't tell me you need sunglasses," Derek chuckled teasingly.

That gave Meredith an idea. "Do you know where I have them?" she asked him, already returning inside.

"Meredith, it's raining outside."

"So? Didn't you see celebrities wearing sunglasses even at night?"

"I didn't know I got married to a celebrity," Derek laughed at her.

Meredith came outside with a pair of sunglasses on her head. She pulled them down over her eyes and just then stepped outside in the rain.

--------

Same as every morning, Derek and Meredith arrived at work together. As usual, their paths had to break in the elevator, when Meredith had to get off on a different floor.

They were in a crowded elevator when Derek whispered in her ear, "I think your floor is next."

Meredith stirred as if his words had awoken her up. Maybe it did as Meredith was still wearing the sunglasses and her eyes weren't visible.

She nodded and made herself room in front of the doors. When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Meredith hesitated a little bit before she stepped outside.

Derek watched her and as the elevator waited for the others to get in he saw her stopping in the middle of the hallway, looking around her as if she was there for the first time. Something told Derek that he would better go with her. He hurried outside and put a hand on Meredith's back.

Meredith stirred again. She lifted her sunglasses just then, narrowing her eyes and looking at Derek, embarrassed. "I missed the floor, didn't I?"

Derek sighed and motioned for her to the right, walking her to the locker room. Stepping inside, they also brought silence through the other interns. Besides the times they worked together, Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd weren't seen together; they rarely even had lunch in the cafeteria together.

"Do you think you can make it to your locker?" Derek jokingly teased her.

Meredith huffed and walked away from him.

That's when Dr. Bailey walked in too.

"Dr. Shepherd," she stopped suddenly, surprised to find Derek there.

"Good morning, Dr. Bailey," Derek flashed a genuine smile at her. He turned to leave then, and stopped briefly to tell Dr. Bailey, "Keep an eye on them today."

"What?" she asked, confused, but as she saw her interns, she understood what he meant.

Everyone was leaning against something, groaning quietly and struggling to keep their heads straight.

After he left Meredith in Dr. Bailey's care, Derek went to change his clothes. He didn't make it to the locker room, because his path crossed with Chief Webber.

"Shep," he greeted him cheerfully. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Chief," Derek smiled.

"Come with me," the Chief told him.

He took him into his office and pointed to the chair across the desk. As they both sat down and the Chief asked briefly about his life and about Meredith and then Derek asked about Adele, Derek had the feeling that the Chief wanted to tell him something important.

"I decided to step down from the Chief of surgery," the Chief announced him.

Derek shifted his position in his seat and tried to listen carefully to what the Chief was saying.

"Just from the position of Chief of surgery," he continued. "I still feel capable of being in the OR and attend trauma cases, so I will keep working here as surgeon." He paused briefly to let his speech flow fluently. "The board asked me to name some candidates. You are one of them."

Of course, they had talked about this moment, but Derek hadn't expected to be so soon. His marriage also distracted him from this thought.

"Still interested?" the Chief raised a brow as Derek was late with an answer or even a reaction.

"Yes," Derek nodded, slowly coming out of the surprised state.

"You won't get to this position so easily though," the Chief warned him. "I also have Dr. Hahn and Dr. Michael on the list. They are a strong competition."

Derek nodded. "How about Preston?"

"He's moving his practice to Hopkins."

"He's what?" Derek burst.

"He wants a fair chance to the position of Chief and he thinks that being my son wouldn't give him fair chances. Also there, at Hopkins, the competition is not as tight as here."

"He's leaving Seattle Grace?" Derek asked incredulously.

The chief looked at him as if he knew something. "Didn't you go out together last night?"

Derek chuckled as the previous night re-wound in his head. "It wasn't quite 'a night out'. The evening ended early."

The chief still looked questioningly.

"And we didn't talk much," Derek added. "So…" he tried to change the subject. "What should I do now?"

The Chief shrugged his shoulders. "Do you what you do best."

"At work?" Derek joked.

Dr. Webber lifted a brow, not tasting his joke. "You will also have to come with a plan for the future of this hospital."

The whole conversation brought Derek some excitement in his spirit. "I already have some ideas."

"That's good then," the Chief nodded. "Now please excuse me I have work to do."

"Yes, of course," Derek stood. "I will see you around."

-----

At noon, in his lunch break, Derek went down in the cafeteria for a snack and see if Meredith was there. Dr. Bailey had listened to his advice and kept her interns off the surgical floor. Therefore, Derek didn't see Meredith the whole morning and he was hoping that he would have some luck now at noon.

He had luck indeed as he walked into the cafeteria and spotted Meredith sitting alone at a table, reading from a magazine. He bought a sandwich and a coffee and headed over to her table.

"Hey,"

Meredith looked up and smiled, "Hey."

"How is it going?"

Meredith shrugged. "Extremely bored. Apparently, Bailey smelled our hangover and didn't let us anywhere close to a surgical patient."

"It can't be that bad. If you don't assist to surgeries, it doesn't mean that your job is worthless," Derek tried to comfort her. Meredith rolled her eyes, not comforted at all. "I am right. For example, who do you think the patient likes to see the most? The doctor that holds the scalpel over its body or the doctor that attends its bedside and cheers it up?"

Meredith considered his perspective, but then she grumbled, "the doctor that saves its life."

"It's not really that way," Derek chuckled.

Meredith looked at him. "What did you do today?"

Derek tried to smile calm. "I saved 3 lives."

Meredith sighed loudly.

Derek shifted his chair closer to her and comfortingly rubbed her back. She put her head down on his shoulder and sighed again, saying, "I won't drink before work next time."

"You do that," Derek laughed. "I had an interesting conversation with the Chief this morning. Did you know that Preston is leaving Seattle Grace?"

Meredith nodded slowly, looking absent-minded.

Derek didn't pay much attention to her answer either. "The Chief is stepping down from his position of chief of surgery. He's not retiring from the OR."

Meredith turned her attention to Derek. "He's what?"

Derek noticed she was distracted. "What is it? You look like you're … chased."

Meredith sighed and leaned to him, whispering. "Maybe it's just me but… I feel a pair of eyes on my nape and another pair on my cheek, other on my back…"

Derek gave a discreet look around. There were indeed people glancing at their table. Other times he would have felt pissed, but this time, he felt satisfied. He put his hand on Meredith's back and, with his other hand, he lifted Meredith's chin and gently stroked her cheek while his lips brushed against hers.

"Derek," Meredith giggled.

Derek grinned at her. "Just imagine how jealous the women in this bar must be right now."

Meredith grinned at him, giggling. She leaned to him and kissed him back.

Derek smiled, rubbing gently his thumb against her cheek.

"So… are you in for the race?" Meredith asked him.

"I am," Derek nodded. "But I still can't believe that Preston didn't tell me any think about his leaving from Seattle Grace."

"Why do you think Cristina wanted to get drunk last night?"

"You knew."

Meredith shrugged. "I know I shouldn't be saying this because she's my best friend, but…" she leaned to him to speak slower. "I think she stayed in this relationship only because Preston was the head of cardiology."

Derek didn't look like he was paying much attention to Meredith. "It's a fair decision I might say. He wants to build his own name as surgeon. Actually that's even why he kept Adele's maiden name."

"Cristina is like a robot. Sometimes I ask myself why we're such good friends."

"I don't want to make a drama out of this, because in reality is not such drama, but I thought we were good friends."

As they both became quiet, alone with their thoughts, they also noticed each other. They noticed they were talking to themselves and not to each other.

"Sorry," Meredith giggled.

"Yeah," Derek laughed. "We have great communication."

"You're going to be the big Chief huh?"

"You're optimistic," Derek chuckled.

"You're good."

"So are Dr. Hahn and Dr. Michael. Oh, and Mark wants in too."

"Is Mark really planning on moving here?"

Derek nodded his head. "He likes Seattle. Surprisingly."

"Or Lexie," Meredith pointed out.

Derek nodded again. "Or Lexie."

"I just hope they will stay out of trouble," Meredith sighed.

"They're grown-ups, Meredith. They don't need baby-sitter." Meredith asking for some wine to drink and have a baby came into his mind. "This reminds me. You're out of control when you're drunk. Now I understand how you ended up married in Vegas."

Meredith looked at him, confused, not remembering what she had said the previous night.

"From all the things you and your friends did and talked, you don't remember about this?" Derek chuckled.

Meredith tried to remember, but by the time she brought up the discussion about wine and babies she was also tired.

"People tend to say what they really think when they're drunk."

"What did I say?" Meredith asked, impatient; almost embarrassed of what she could have told him. She had embarrassed herself enough when she had the appendectomy.

"You wanted us to have some wine and make a baby."

Meredith's cheeks flushed instantly. She had secretly thought about their babies, but that wasn't in her plan any time soon.

Derek read her answer in her reaction. "We're not ready, Meredith."

"I know," she replied quickly. "Of course we're not. We've talked about this."

"At least, let's not have it while we're drunk."

"Absolutely," Meredith nodded firmly. "I don't want our children to turn out alcoholics. And for the record, I rarely drink."

"Marrying me was the craziest thing you did while you were drunk?"

Meredith smiled wearily. "I will try not to take that as an offense. Yes, that was the craziest. And it will stay the craziest."

"Because you're married to me now," Derek smirked. "I have you in my care."

Meredith played a fake sigh of relief.

Derek laughed at her.

Meredith put her head on his shoulder and Derek wrapped her into his arms. She didn't care about people's stares anymore; she was feeling smugly about it now. Then she told Derek, "When we'll have a baby, we'll be grown-ups."

Derek kissed the top of her head. "How long do you think it will take us to become grown-ups."

"We'll see."


	35. A step forward

**Chapter 35 –A step forward  
**

Derek was ready to end late another day of work. Same as him, a trauma kept Meredith longer on the surgical floor and around her patients. Derek was about to step into the elevator when he heard Meredith calling for him.

He stopped and turned to her, letting the elevator go. She was hurrying towards him, still dressed in her scrubs.

"Are you ready?" he asked her.

Meredith tried to catch her breath and shook her head apologetically. "It might take a while. Dr. Bailey took Alex off a case and she asked me to write his patients' charts. You can go ahead if you want. I will take a cab."

Derek was a little disappointed. He was tired and all he wanted to do for the rest of the evening was to spend a little time with his wife. "I think I am going to wait for you at Joe's. I will see if Mark wants to join me for a drink."

Meredith smiled and suggestively lifted a brow, "I hope you're not planning on paying me back for my last night out with the girls."

Derek chuckled. "I could never do such thing to you. You know, I care about you."

Meredith dramatically rolled her eyes. "I got drunk once and I arrived home safely. I slept in the same bed with you that night. And no. It didn't happen because you brought me home. It happened because I sent that guy away."

"How long are you going to brag about this?" Derek asked, amused.

Meredith just smile. "Go. I have work to finish," she giggled and sprinted back to the surgical floor.

Derek watched her with a smile until she was out of his sight. Then he turned back to the elevators and called one.

The doors opened and there was his best friend, Mark. "The person I wanted to see," Derek stated, stepping inside.

"What do you have for me?" Mark asked, interested.

"An invitation to Joe's bar."

"Hmm…" Mark mused. "I might have other plans for this evening."

Derek narrowed his eyes as he watched his friend carefully. "I hope your plans don't include Lexie."

"They don't," Mark laughed with a tint of naughtiness in his eyes.

Derek let out a groan of surrender. "It's not my business. It's not my business." He kept repeating himself.

"See how easy it is?"

Derek smiled ironically, nodding his head.

Without any other stop, they were soon in Joe's bar. They walked to the bar and had to make themselves room between the tipsy ladies that were laughing noisily.

"Good evening, Dr. Shepherd. Dr. Sloan!" One of the nurses cheerfully greeted them. "You did a great job today in the OR, Dr. Shepherd," it looked like she particularly wanted to praise Derek, as she made a step towards him and had an attempt of hanging on his arm.

Derek stepped back and smiled politely, while he looked for seats further from the tipsy women. He had seen her at work and he knew she was a nurse. He also thought he knew her name, but he couldn't remember it right now.

"The horse face nurse is hideous when she's drunk," Mark chuckled mockingly.

"How did you call her?" Derek laughed.

"She's not worth it to remember her name. Hey, Joe!" Mark waved at the bartender.

"Good evening. The usual?" Joe asked them and they nodded their heads. "It's your turn to pass out tonight?" he asked them, laughing, as only a few days had passed since the girls' night out.

"We'll take them home! No worry." another nurse from the tipsy group shouted as she overheard Joe.

"Great," Mark smirked at Joe and took his beer. "I am not worried anymore."

Joe laughed, shaking his head with disapproval, and left to attend other customers.

"How come she gave you the permission to go out?" Mark asked Derek.

Derek just smiled, choosing to ignore his comment. "I am waiting for her to go home."

"Oh," Mark replied ironically. "Eww. How did you get to do such thing?"

Derek let out a sigh and took a sip from his scotch. Maybe taking Mark out for a drink hadn't been such a good idea.

"Stupid question," Mark gave the answer himself. "You want a heart to heart talk," he noticed. "Ok, then I am here for it."

"Mark, can you try at least once and be serious?"

"But I am serious. Look, Lexie and I spent another night together," he stated and Derek almost choked with his drink. "We were careful. She's on pills and I put a condom. We had double protection."

"Stop there," Derek demanded. "I don't want to know about you and Lexie."

"Why? Maybe Meredith wants to know about Lexie."

"She doesn't," Derek shook his head. "We don't want to know about you two, because if we do then we will have to help you when you get in trouble. And we're sure that you two can't stay out of trouble."

"Look who's talking," Mark huffed.

"Who? Me and Meredith? We're a good example compared to you," Derek pointed out. "Look at me for example. I had a long, hard day at work and I can't wait to get home, but yet here I am in a bar, waiting for Meredith, because I can't go home and see that she's not there."

Mark chuckled teasingly and replied, "You've been afraid of being home alone since you were a kid. Don't come to me with this cheesiness."

"You know very well that's not true," Derek protested.

Mark shrugged and took a swing from his beer. "Ok. You were afraid of darkness."

"And that's not the same with being home alone."

"It kind of is," Mark pointed out. Then he was ready to stop teasing his friend. "You can't stay without her, huh?"

Derek saw his friend was ready to be serious. He smiled and nodded his head. "I got used to her."

"You got very used to her," Mark chuckled.

"She's great. She doesn't cook, but she's trying. She doesn't like fish, but she takes Doc and comes with me when I go fishing in the morning. She doesn't know what words to say to make me feel better, but yet she succeeds it."

As Derek finished his confession, he saw his friend's face and couldn't help but laugh. "Impressive, huh? Yeah. You can't have her because she's taken already."

"No. It's not about this. You worship her."

"That's a big word," Derek disagreed.

"But that's what you just told me."

"I do not worship her. I just said I got very used to her."

"Or very in love with her," Mark muttered with a roll from his eyes.

Derek smiled and didn't deny that. "Worship has a total different meaning. I didn't lose my head over her."

"And everything started from alcohol," Mark muttered, thoughtful, as if he was talking to himself.

"Do you like Lexie?" Derek asked him.

Mark didn't look up, though he had heard the question.

"You two can have a relationship. You don't need anyone's permission. Just pay attention to what you want from this relationship."

"How's your plan for the hospital going?" Mark changed the subject.

Derek shook his head with disapproval. "I am not doing your homework."

"I wasn't asking you to," Mark huffed.

"Now there's no need to become aggressive," Derek laughed, sensing the reason for Mark's sudden change of her mood. Lexie proved to be a sensitive spot for him.

"You made a decision?" Derek asked him. "You're moving here?"

"If I win the race, then yes," Mark nodded. "If not, I am taking the first flight back to New York. You know I can't stand the rain."

"I know, but you might get used to it until the race is over."

"I know what you're trying to say," Mark replied. "But I am not you. I don't fall for a woman so easily."

"It wasn't easy to do it," Derek chuckled, "But here we are, 4 months later and we keep going. And Lexie is not a bad choice. She's actually a charming girl."

"If you don't want your balls smashed by your wife, you should watch the remarks you make about her cousin."

"It was an innocent remark, but you are jealous."

Mark sighed, visibly annoyed with Derek's constant tease about Lexie. To prove him the contrary, Mark turned to the group of nurses and smiled at a young, blonde one. "What are you having?" he asked her, flirting.

"I just finished my wine," she replied, giggling and leaning closer to him.

"Would you like a refill?" he asked her.

"I'd love too."

That was when Derek knew that his evening out with Mark had ended. He turned to the bar, propped his elbows on the counter and sipped from his drink, bored.

The same nurse that had attempted to hang on his arm earlier and that offered to take him home in case he would pass out came beside him.

"I'd like a refill too," she told Joe, but looking at Derek as if she was expecting him to offer her a drink.

Derek just flashed a weary smile and turned his attention away from her.

The nurse wasn't discouraged by his indifference. After Joe refilled her glass and she took a sip from it, she moved closer to Derek, clearing her throat. "Dr. Shepherd."

As she looked like she wanted to tell him something and he didn't want to be rude, Derek turned around, facing her. Then he found himself grabbed by his jacket and something crushed against his lips. His brain and probably the whole bar –which had as customers most of the hospital staff- gasped at the unexpected kiss. Derek felt too dazed to know how to react, especially when he felt a tongue forcing its way into his mouth. For less than a second, Derek found himself kissing unknown lips. He grabbed the woman's shoulders and used his force to pull away.

"Are you crazy?" he snapped at her, wiping his mouth.

The nurse giggled and extended her hand. "Rose."

"Go to sleep, Rose," Derek glared at her.

That made her giggle and want to come closer again. "Why don't you join me? As you can see, I am a good kisser."

Derek took a step back and glanced around him. Of course the kiss didn't pass unnoticed.

Mark got off his barstool and walked up behind Rose, taking her by the shoulders. "You look like you need some help here," he told Derek.

"I don't need help, but she looks like she does. Joe, get her a cab," Derek asked the bartender. "I am going to see if Meredith is ready," he told Mark then.

"Come on. Are you letting her scare you off?" Mark mocked him, laughing.

"She doesn't scare me," Derek glared. "I just don't need to make a show in front of the whole hospital." Without any second thought, Derek paid for his drink and left the bar.

Out in the street, Derek stopped for a moment. The air felt moist against his face and very refreshing. It had been raining all afternoon, but the temperature still felt warm enough though they were in mid fall.

Across the street, the hospital stood tall and still. Sometimes Derek felt overwhelmed by the dimension of a hospital and he wished he could try a private practice; less running from one floor to another, less staff to gossip about your kissing in bars with scrubbing nurses.

Derek inhaled deeply and the fresh air filled his lungs. He exhaled slowly, sighing also. He crossed the street and entered the hospital, stopping in the main lobby to wait for Meredith.

That's where Meredith found him working on his laptop.

"What happened?" she asked him.

Derek stirred a little and shut down the computer. "Mark found company."

"Known company?"

"Kind of," he smiled. "A nurse."

"Oh," Meredith looked more relieved now. "And he left you alone?" she asked him, smiling pitifully.

"He didn't want to," he replied with a smirk.

Meredith took a seat beside him and smiled. "You're pathetic."

Derek faked a sigh. "I know." And smiled broadly at her. "But I don't mind."

"Me neither," Meredith laughed and leaned in for a kiss.

Derek held her cheek a little longer, gently rubbing the pad of his thumb against her cheek. "Let's go home."

"Let's go."

Derek packed his laptop and then took Meredith's hand as they stood up.

"I am not in the mood for cooking," Meredith complained.

Derek started laughing. "Don't worry."

Meredith laughed too and elbowed him, taking his answer as a tease.

That night, in their bed, as Derek held Meredith's body in his arms, caressing it up and down its length, he felt like he had some confessions to make. He propped his head on his arm while bending over Meredith and kissed her softly.

"What happened?" Meredith asked, rolling over and pressing her chest against his body.

Derek put her hand on her back, continuing caressing it. "What do you mean?"

"What happened to the bar?" Meredith giggled. "You look high. Did they start selling drugs at Joe's?"

Derek laughed at her imagination and cupped her cheek, kissing her again. "I had one drink only."

"I know, but I can see that there's something going on with you. You've been... different for the last hour."

"Different?" Derek laughed.

Meredith rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."

"No, I don't, so please tell me."

Meredith couldn't look into his eyes, instead she watched her fingers playing on his chest. "You've been... loving."

His heart filled with a smile too and felt it beating erratically. He lay down so they could look at each other face to face. His finger traced the line of her jaw and then ran over her lips. "Didn't you like it?" he asked her.

What a stupid question, she would have answered if she hadn't suspecting what was coming.

"Didn't you?" Derek asked her again, wanting to hear the confirmation from her mouth.

"I did," Meredith smiled and also escaped a giggle.

Derek found her adorable. That was a moment when he felt like they were two teenagers together for the first time. "That's good," he said. Gently he moved on top of her, propping his forearms beside her head, having their faces inches away from each other now. "Because I am planning on making love to you many nights from now on."

Meredith couldn't draw her eyes away from his intense gaze. His breath, the words that echoed against her lips made her heart drum.

"I am in love with you, Meredith Shepherd," Derek continued.

Meredith had to remember how to breathe. She swallowed a lump and asked quietly, "You are?"

"I am," Derek answered firmly.

Meredith looked too stunned to answer or to react in any way and that gave Derek some cold chills. He was impatiently waiting for the next second, hoping for a positive reaction from Mereidth. And the reaction wasn't late as Meredith smiled and her fingers tangled through his hair.

"I love you too," she whispered, too shy and nervous to voice loud and clear her feelings for him.

Derek didn't mind the whisper at all. Everything inside him was a smile; a huge, smugly grin.

Neither of them seemed to have to courage to say more. They looked into each other's eyes and until their eyes became dry and they had to blink. Derek lowered his head and, holding Meredith's face in his hands, kissed her lovingly.

"Isn't too early for this step?" Meredith asked him. "Because this... this is a new step forward."

"It is a step forward and I don't think it's too early," he reassured her.

"Ok," she smiled.

"Ok," Derek nodded. He rolled over and lay beside her, pulling her body against his and sinking his face in her hair. He loved her hair's scent already. It was the lavender scent that kept him company for so many nights during the past 4 months and of which he was addicted to. "Let's build us a house."

Meredith turned her face to look at him. "You don't like the trailer?"

"I love the trailer, but we have to admit that we don't have too much comfort in it."

Meredith nodded her head slowly, agreeing with him, but she looked reluctant toward this idea also.

"We can keep the trailer," Derek suggested. "We can keep it in the backyard."

"Is it safe for playground?" she asked him.

Derek chuckled and shrugged. "We can make it safe."

"Then let's build a house. Can we please have a huge bathroom with a huge shower and a huge bathtub? Can we have a bathtub?"

Derek started laughing. He had no doubt that Meredith had become fond of the trailer, but he knew that almost everything about it still pissed her off. Apparently, that was going to be the night when they would make plans for their house and Derek didn't want to ruin the moment. He left the other confession he had to make for the next day. Somehow, he would find a way to tell Meredith about the incident with the nurse before she would hear it from someone else.


	36. Primal instinct

**Chapter 36 – Primal instinct**

Despite the fact that she hadn't slept much, Meredith felt fresher than ever when she woke up in the morning. She found herself alone in bed, lying in the middle of it between the white sheets. With a smile on her face, she ran her hand over the sheet that covered Derek's side of bed, thinking how much she loved white sheets. As she started coming out of her dreaming and be more awake, Meredith felt the sweet flavor of the pancakes and the fresh coffee. Derek was cooking for her.

Though she was no longer sleepy, Meredith lingered in bed, with a pillow in her arms. Everything felt great that morning. Her thoughts swirled around her evening with Derek. That was the most romantic night she could remember. She was in love and high on the ninth cloud, but she still didn't lose her head completely.

She stood up from bed, taking a sheet and wrapping it around her, and walked in kitchen.

"Derek, what happened?" she asked him, calm.

Derek turned and looked at her, confused. "Good morning to you too."

Meredith just smiled at him.

Derek flipped the last pancake on the plate and turned the stove off. He wiped his hands and brought the plate to the table together with the coffee pot. "What are you talking about?" he asked her.

"What happened? Something happened," she let him know that a little she knew.

Derek walked up to her and slid a hand around her waist, bringing her into his arms. Meredith didn't oppose and that made Derek a little optimistic. "What I told you last night and what happened last night was what I felt like I had to share with you."

"Ok," Meredith answered, still with a calm smile.

"Ok."

"Are you going to tell me now?" she asked him again after he showed no intention of telling her what she wanted to know.

"How do you know that something happened?" Derek asked back, intrigued with the certainty she was showing.

"Because we've been married for 4 months and I got to know you a little. There's something in you that shouts guilty."

"I am not guilty!" Derek replied defensively.

Meredith lifted a brow, looking suspiciously at his reaction now. She pushed him away and folded her arms across her chest. "By the way you reacted you seem to be very guilty."

Derek let a long sigh out. "I am not guilty," he said, calmer this time.

Meredith calmed down too and motioned for him to go on.

Derek shook his head, disappointed. "I was at Joe's yesterday while I waited for you. I was with Mark and we were having a drink when a bunch of drunken nurses started hitting on us."

Meredith opened her mouth and didn't know if to protest or to gasp.

"I didn't do anything," Derek said in his defense.

Meredith started feel angry with the same line. "Did something happen or not?"

"Not," Derek answered.

Meredith narrowed her eyes and still could see in his eyes that he was guilty. She lifted a brow, indirectly telling him to go on.

"It happened that one of those nurses... she tried to kiss me."

"Tried or kissed?"

Derek took a deep breath and muttered, "Kissed"

Meredith sighed with relief and asked, calm, "Did you kiss her back?"

"Absolutely not."

Meredith stared at him for a moment and then started laughing. She propped her hands against his chest as she leaned to him, tilting her face to him. "You're lame. How can you feel guilty for such thing? Do you have any idea how you scared me?"

Derek couldn't understand her reaction. He knew that he should be grateful for not upseting Meredith, but he didn't like very much her relief and lack of jealousy. He remembered the time when the same nurse, Rose, was bringing him coffee and Meredith was about to run over her with the car because of that. He was confused now.

In the meantime, Meredith walked in bedroom and let the sheet drop on bed as she took the bathrobe and wrapped herself in it. "I will be fast with the shower," she told Derek while opening the bathroom door.

Derek decided not to trust in Meredith's reaction to the news. He knew he had no reason to feel guilty about and was determined to make Meredith see that too.

Meredith walked out of the shower a few minutes later and, after she got dressed, she joined Derek for breakfast.

"How are we going to build the house?" Meredith asked him, pouring coffee in their mugs.

"We're not going to build it personally," Derek chuckled. Meredith looked up, confused. "Do you want to build it yourself?" he asked her, amused.

"No. I was just asking, because I never planned to build a house."

"We're going to hire a constructor and we'll ask for some house plans. We'll choose the one we like the most."

"I don't know any constructor," Meredith said, a little worried.

Derek smiled, finding cute her worry. "Me neither, but we can find one. I will take care of that. Don't worry."

Meredith smiled and nodded. "But I don't think it should be big."

"It will need a few rooms. We talked about 4 babies, remember?"

Meredith looked at him as if she didn't know what he was talking about.

"We talked about babies. Many times," Derek added. "Fine. We might have a couple of babies. Do you want them to share rooms?"

"I don't think it would be a bad idea," she answered. "One of them might be afraid of darkness."

"Four bedrooms. How does this sound?"

"Reasonable," Meredith answered. "We should add a room downstairs too. You never know."

"Of course," Derek agreed. "Two bathrooms?"

"Make it three. If you want 4 children, then you might have a line at the bathroom door."

Derek laughed and nodded. "Swimming pool?"

Meredith lifted a brow as if that was a stupid question. "In Seattle?"

"Why not? It doesn't rain all the time."

"No. It rains most of the time."

"You're exaggerating, but ok. No swimming pool."

And so on they continued to make their own plan for their new home. That until they heard a car pulling on their land. Derek stood up from table and went to see who was visiting them at such early hour.

Mark walked in before Derek could look out the window. "Morning. Coffee would be great," he patted Derek on shoulder, grinning at him.

He walked in their kitchen area and kept grinning at Meredith. "No fire I see."

Derek took a cup out of the cupboard and poured coffee for Mark.

"Which of you is going to die today?" he asked Derek, whispering to him. "You or Rose?"

Meredith overheard that. She noisily put the mug down, glaring at Derek.

"The nurse was nurse Rose?" she asked, her eyes were shooting glares and her voice choked with anger.

That was the reaction Derek had expected earlier that morning, but now, having it, he didn't like and didn't want it anymore.

As Derek didn't answer, Meredith turned her glare to Mark. Mark shrugged innocently, sipping from his coffee.

Meredith didn't say anything more either. She composed herself and picked up her mug, but both Mark and Derek could see that she was pissed.

Mark tried to make conversation with Derek as they hoped that something else might catch her attention and distract her from Rose. But Meredith had other ideas. She stood up from table, taking her mug and plate, and put them in sink. She washed them, slow; dried them, also slow; and wiped her hands.

"We're going to be late for work," she told Derek.

"I am not hurrying this morning. You can go ahead."

Meredith replied dryly, "My car is out of gas."

Mark and Derek looked at each other –none of them noticing Meredith's sudden bad mood yet- and Derek said, "You can have mine. I will go with Mark."

Mark nodded. "I am taking him."

Meredith didn't answer, but kept staring at Derek. There was something in her stare that leave no place for comment from Derek's side. Her stare was mutually demanding him not to disagree with her. Same as Derek, Mark understood that too.

"Actually," Mark cut in, "I just remembered that I have a consult early in the morning."

There was a tint of appreciation in Meredith's smile as she nodded at Mark. She turned and looked at Derek, expecting.

"Let me get my stuff," he told Meredith. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and went to pick up his stuff from bedroom.

Meredith folded her arms across her chest, looking at Mark. "So?" she wanted to sound chatty and cheerful. "Did you have fun yesterday?"

Mark choked with his coffee at Meredith's question. He forced a smile and nodded his head. "I wouldn't call it fun. It was rather, relaxing. I had a beer, he had a scotch and we talked about old times."

"Hmm," Meredith muttered.

Mark quickly put the cup down and took advantage of Meredith's short break from her interrogation, already heading to the door and shouting, "I really have to get going now. See you guys at work later."

Meredith had no doubt that Derek had been honest when he told her that he loved her, but now she was questioning if he had said it exactly in that evening because the nurse kissed him. She decided to climb down from her ninth cloud and analyze the situation clearer. Besides that, Rose's constant hit towards Derek was stressing Meredith.

Derek was ready and so they left with Derek's car. The ride was quiet. Derek didn't dare to say anything, deciding to let her calm down, and Meredith was analyzing the situation.

When Derek pulled the car in the parking lot of the hospital, Meredith stirred as if she woke up for the second time that morning. She smiled at Derek and said, "This week is my turn in neuro."

Derek found even more confusing her attitude now and he started thinking that she had a plan. "That's great," he wanted to sound excited.

Meredith giggled and nodded her head.

Derek hoped that she had a good plan; a plan that he might like too.

Meredith got out of the car first and waited for Derek to pick up his things. As Derek shut the door and locked it, Meredith held her hand out to him, smiling.

Derek took a deep breath and decided not to worry. He had faith in Meredith's judgment and her ideas. He smiled and put his arm around her waist as they walked to the entrance.

He saw Meredith carefully looking around and that gave him an idea of what Meredith's plan was. She was going to make Rose jealous. He laughed to himself at that thought, satisfied with her plan. Besides that, Meredith proved to be still jealous of other women.

They didn't let go of each other's waist when they got to the elevators either. The elevator was a little crowded with doctors and nurses, but they stepped inside without hiding their embrace from anyone. They were aware of the stares, curious and disapproving, they were receiving from the others.

"I don't know what you think about this," Meredith started telling Derek, quietly, but still loud enough for the other passengers' ears. "But we have to find the right color for painting the house. I don't want it to be too bright or too dark."

Derek tried not to laugh. "I agree with you. We will choose something in between."

"Ok. We'll talk about the number of windows and the color of the curtains later," Meredith smiled. "Now I have to get ready for work."

Derek nodded and leaned in for a kiss, just then letting her go. "I will see you later."

As Meredith stepped out the elevator and the doors closed, Derek laughed at the other's curiosity. "Women. You can't live with them, but you can't live without them either."

Once the doors were closed and Meredith found herself alone on the hallway, her smile faded instantly. She wasn't in the mood for smiling. All she wanted was to find the best way to make that nurse understand that her husband was off the market now.

She was ready to walk in the locker room and complain to her friends about Rose's nerve, but as she walked in, all the eyes locked on her. Gossip had spread already.

Meredith decided to act normal, as nothing would have happened. Maybe smiling and giggling foolishly would make people think how gray their relationship had become.

She ignored the stares as she didn't care what people thought. Lexie and Cristina were getting ready for their day already.

Lexie stood up quickly when she saw Meredith coming and went to her, looking sympathetically. Meredith groaned as she saw that. "You found out too."

"About Rose? Do you know about it?" Lexie asked surprised.

"I do. Derek mentioned something about it this morning," she tried to sound as if that was like any other uninteresting news. "I am so tired," she sighed, dropping her back in her locker. "We talked about the plan for our new house."

Cristina chuckled and replied, "As if you had a house before."

Meredith smiled, rolling her eyes. "The trailer is a fine house. For casual sleep-over."

"You're really moving in together?" Lexie beamed, excited for her cousin. "I mean do you really want to buy a real house? That's great."

"Yes. We decided it was time to move into something more comfortable. I would have other news to share with you, but they're a little too intimate to share in public," Meredith said. As she glanced around her, she saw the other interns peaking at her from the corner of their eyes.

I gossip like this couldn't pass unnoticed. She was an intern and he was her attending, therefore their relationship was always in the spotlight. Besides this, they might have heard the circumstances they got married.

"What news? What did I miss?" Izzie asked, rushing to her locker. She swung the door open, stuffed her things inside and turned to look at her friends while taking her street clothes off. "I heard something though," she said, slowly and cautiously, looking at Meredith.

"She knows," Lexie told her. "And there's no drama going on, but apparently she has some other stuff to share with us," she added with smirk. "Something intimate."

Izzie gasped, her face lightening with a smile. "You're pregnant!"

Silence filled the room in that moment and everyone, without any embarrassment or intention to hide their curiosity this time, was looking at her.

Meredith couldn't help but giggle. She turned to everyone and said loud and clear, "I am not pregnant!"

Right in that moment, Dr. Bailey walked in to come and give her interns their assignments. She stopped in the middle of them, looking at Meredith. "Are you going to announce every single event of your life from now on?"

Meredith smiled embarrassed. "Izzie presumed and everyone waited a confirmation or a negation."

"Does everyone care?" Bailey asked her.

Meredith nodded and motioned to look around her. Everyone turned their stares from Meredith and Dr. Bailey in that moment. Dr. Bailey didn't say anything more about that.

"O'Malley," she called for George and tried to spot him. "Where is George?"

"He was on call last night," Lexie answered.

Bailey nodded and turned to Izzie then, "Stevens, you are in cardio today; Yang, you cover the pit with Karev and Grey, you're with me and Dr. Shepherd."

Meredith hurried to put the scrubs on and sprinted to catch with Dr. Bailey.

Bailey peaked at her from the corner of her eyes. Meredith saw that.

"If you want to hear details about the kissing, I am sorry to disappoint you but there is no detail. A nurse got drunk and apparently she has great hots for my husband."

"I didn't say anything," Bailey said in her defense. After a short pause she added, "You should not let something like this ruin the harmony in your marriage. Talk to him and give him some credit."

"But I talked to him and he has all my credit. Why is everyone making such a big drama out of this?"

"Because you're not like any other couple," Bailey replied knowingly.

"We're fine. We're great. That nurse got drunk and tried to hit on him. He pushed her away."

Bailey shrugged, not wishing for more details.

Meredith needed a little talk about that though. "Why do you think he kept apologizing all morning? It was just a kiss, right? Maybe he kissed her back too, but he didn't enjoy it." Meredith stopped then and gasped as a thought struck her. "Do you think he enjoyed it?"

Bailey sighed and pulled Meredith into a private corner. "How did you find out about it?"

"He told me."

"He wouldn't have confessed it to you if he had enjoyed it."

"Then why did he keep apologizing?"

"Are you a jealous person?" Bailey asked her.

Meredith hesitated a little before she answered, "No. A little."

"There you go," Bailey shrugged and picked up the pace. "You'd better not argue over this with him in the OR."

Meredith ran to catch up with her. "I won't. Derek and I are doing great, despite the fact that he might have kissed her back. I have a personal problem with that nurse though."

Bailey shrugged and answered, "As you said, it's personal. Solve it yourself."

Meredith nodded. They walked together in silence, for a moment only. "How would you solve a situation like this?" she asked Bailey.

Bailey stopped suddenly, put her hands on her hips and looked at Meredith. "I am a little too young and you're a little too old to be your mother. You're a woman. Follow your primal female instinct."

"My primal female instinct?" Meredith asked, confused.

Dr. Bailey nodded her head and started walking again.

"And that would be?" Meredith asked.

"If this is what you're going to think about all day, then please go and join the group in the pit."

Meredith pulled an imaginary zipper over her lips and followed Dr. Bailey in silence.

Her primal female instinct? Did she have any primal instinct? Meredith kept asking herself. She'd better discover a phenomenal primal instinct; something to blow Rose's head.


	37. Just a scare

**Chapter 37 – Just a scare**

Meredith managed to stay focused throughout the surgery she had scrubbed in with Derek. She was so focused that she didn't even notice that Rose had been one of the scrub nurses.

Nurse Rose didn't do anything to draw attention over her either.

The other people in the OR, same as those from the gallery, looked for something special to happen between the dirty nurse and the cheated intern. Derek saw Rose as he stepped into the OR and just then he shot a quick glance at her. Meredith looked calm; she either hadn't seen her or she was ignoring her; either way, Derek was satisfied that he could do his work in proper condition.

Time flew by and the surgery ended flawlessly. He asked another intern to close up the patient as he wanted to give Meredith further indication about their patient's treatment.

They were scrubbing out and Derek had just gave her the last indication when he looked up at her, waiting for her approval, and found her staring through the glass, inside the OR. So she hadn't seen Rose, he understood then.

"Meredith," he called out her name, asking her attention.

Meredith stirred and looked at Derek, nodding her head. "I understood."

Derek grabbed a towel and looked around them to see how much privacy they had. He leaned against the sink, wiping his hands, and told softly asked Meredith, "Are you alright?"

"I am fine," she replied simply, although not sounding very convincing.

"Mer," he begged for attention a little bit more.

Meredith was not willing to give him more attention as she knew what he wanted to talk about. "Everything is fine, Derek. I have to go and write Mr. Carlson's chart." Without any other word she walked out the scrub room, leaving Derek disappointed.

Meredith had acted in different ways that morning, especially since she found out it was Rose who kissed him, and Derek had trouble understanding her now. 'At least she knows how to be professional,' he said himself as comfort.

Meredith had found an empty conference room to sit and write Mr. Carlson's chart. She was just writing down the last notes when the door opened and Cristina walked in with her chart, apparently also looking for a quiet place to sit and write.

"Something good?" Cristina asked, looking at Meredith's chart, as she sat down across from Meredith.

Meredith didn't pay attention to what Cristina had looked at, so she misunderstood her question. She put the pen down, shut the chart and sighed, saying, "I don't know."

"Didn't you just write it?"

"What?" Just then, when Cristina glanced again at Meredith's chart, she understood. "Oh. A craniotomy. He has a good prognosis."

Cristina nodded, not so interesting in Meredith's patient anymore. She lay back in her chair and flipped her chart open. She started scrambling slowly in it.

Meredith noticed Cristina's absence in her work. Normally, despite her mood, she would have asked her and talked to her about what was bothering each other. This time, she didn't seem interested in a conversation like this.

"Cristina? What's your primal instinct?"

"My primal instinct?" Cristina asked, surprised with the unusual question.

"Yes. What do you feel like doing when something or someone pisses you off to the limits?"

Cristina took a moment to think about this. "You know me pretty well. What's your primal instinct?"

"I wouldn't have asked you if I knew," Meredith groaned. "Your first impulse is to attack people."

"That's not true," Cristina contradicted.

"You attacked that guy when we were in Boston," Meredith pointed out.

"That was one time. I usually give sharp replies. I am good at it."

Meredith thought about that and it was true indeed. When someone was pissing Cristina off she was fighting back with sharp replies, almost making the other people cry. Could that be considered a primal instinct too? It didn't suit Meredith anyway.

While Meredith was meditating over this, Cristina had gone back to her writing. Meredith noticed the absence in her presence again.

"What's going?" she asked her.

Cristina paused briefly to look up at Meredith. "I am writing."

"No. What's going on with you? How's Burke?" she asked, somehow suspecting he could have something to do with Cristina's mood.

Cristina glared at her chart as Meredith put that question and Meredith knew she was right.

"Cristina?"

Cristina looked determined to ignore her.

"Cristina!" Meredith insisted.

"We broke up!" Cristina snapped.

Meredith was taken by surprise with this answer. "Why? You two fought?"

"We didn't fight. I fought with him and I broke up with him."

"Why?"

"Does it matter?"

"It matters because it doesn't look to me like you were the one breaking up with him."

"It was me. He decided to leave to another hospital and I decided to let him go," Cristina replied dryly.

Meredith was staring at her, dumbfounded. "You broke up with him because he doesn't work in the same hospital with you anymore?" Cristina didn't answer to that. "Cristina, did you actually sleep with him because he was the head of cardiology here at Seattle Grace? Did you use him?"

Cristina groaned, rolling her eyes. "Let's dramatize now. What's so shocking in this? What? Are you going to tell me now that you and McDreamy are in love with each other?"

"We are," Meredith snapped, offended by her friend's presumption.

"Seriously," Cristina laughed sarcastically. "I played along with you because you seemed to enjoy this game, but I see that you're dreaming now. Ask yourself again if you really are in love with Shepherd and think carefully about the answer."

"I don't have to ask myself anything," Meredith retorted, already pissed with Cristina's attitude.

"Sure. You accept to live in a place where the address is 'Middle of Nowhere', number 'Right after the third tree on the left' because you're in love with this guy."

"Do you know me at all?" Meredith asked in disbelief. "When our immunology teacher was hitting on my in College in Boston, I turned him down several times though he was young and very attractive. The grades I received that year, I received them because of my knowledge. I deserved them. Each surgery I scrub in here, I deserve it. It wasn't just once that Derek left me out of the surgery because I misdiagnosed the patient. You already know all these."

Cristina wasn't writing anymore but her eyes were fixed on the chart. Meredith waited for her to admit she had been wrong. She knew Cristina wasn't the person to say 'I'm sorry' and therefore, she wasn't waiting for an apology. She was waiting to say at least 'I know'.

Cristina didn't seem like she was going to say anything any time soon as she started writing again and Meredith felt like she was standing in front of a stranger. She could not be more disappointed than this. She stood up from table and waited another moment. As Cristina didn't show any change in her attitude, Meredith picked up her chart and stormed out the room.

**---**

George and Izzie were sitting at the same table with Meredith and both were watching her how she stabbed the salad each time she directed the fork in it. It was plastic fork, but it still looked dangerous in Meredith's hand.

They ate in silence until Izzie couldn't stand it anymore and wanted to be helpful. She firmly grabbed Meredith's wrist and when Meredith shot her a glare she gently put it down, holding it against the table. "Meredith, he loves you and anyone can see it. You have no reason to be jealous over an insignificant kiss."

"She's right, Mer. He loves you and respects you without a doubt," George reassured her also.

Meredith sighed and let the fork drop from her hand. Just then Izzie released her wrist. "I know."

"Derek is a gentleman," Izzie said. "You said he grew up with his mother and his sisters, so he knows how to respect women."

"I know that too," Meredith answered. "I am having a bad day."

"We all have bad days from time to time," George stated, thoughtful.

Just as she glanced up, Meredith's eyes locked on someone and her look turned into a glare. "I am double pissed now," she muttered. "Izzie?" she asked without letting Rose out of her sight. She watched her buying herself a coffee and chatting with another nurse. "What's your primal instinct?"

"My what?"

"What you feel like doing when someone pisses you off?"

"That depends on how pissed I am," Izzie answered. "Usually I tend to physically attack that person. I am not aggressive, but if that person deserves a punch then I offering it. Why are you asking me all these?"

George paid more attention to Meredith than Izzie and he followed her glare, guessing what was about as he spotted Nurse Rose. "Don't give her any idea, Izzie."

"That's what I feel like doing too," Meredith muttered.

"Do you want to beat Rose?" George asked.

"Please announce the whole cafeteria, George," Meredith rolled her eyes.

"Meredith, you will get into serious trouble," George warned her.

"I think she deserves a scare," Izzie took Meredith's side.

"That's right," Meredith nodded. "I don't want to beat the crap out of her, but I have to make understand that I won't just stay and see how she continues to hit on my husband."

Meredith saw the way Izzie was grinning at her. "What?"

"You're so passionate of each other. I honestly envy you," her friend stated.

"Do you really believe this?" Meredith questioned.

"I do and anyone can see," Izzie stated, looking at George for his approval.

"That's right," he nodded his head.

"Because there are still people who believe that I am staying with him to get favors at work," Meredith grumbled, remembering Cristina's words. Though she knew she didn't really believe that, but she couldn't forgive her for saying it.

"Whoever thinks that must be jealous," Izzie reassured.

And Meredith had no doubt that Cristina was just a little bit jealous of her. Cristina was very competitive and focused on her career, willing of sacrifice anything to get to the top. Cristina was that type of person of which Meredith considered she shouldn't have a baby.

"I will help you," Izzie offered to help Meredith scare Rose. "When do you want to do it?"

Meredith watched Rose leaving the cafeteria alone. "As soon as possible. I need something to cheer me up a little."

"Let's go then," Izzie stood up, determined to help Meredith.

"You can't be serious," George looked at them, dumbfounded, when he saw them stand up.

"Don't piss me off too, George," Meredith warned him jokingly.

Meredith and Izzie went upstairs on the surgical floor, where Meredith got in a supply closet and Izzie stayed on the hall, waiting for Rose to pass by. They had to wait for a little while and Meredith was getting impatient inside the supply closet. She even started considering if it was right what she was doing or not.

"Hey!" Before she could take a decision, the door opened and Rose was pushed inside.

Now, being face to face with Rose, Meredith took her decision.

"Dr. Grey," Rose said, surprised, and that was all she could say because in the next second, Meredith pushed her against the wall.

"I am tired of you. I am tired of seeing after my husband all the time. Look at me very careful; I might be shorter than you, but I am a jealous wife and a jealous wife can be very unpredictable and dangerous. I won't hurt you. At least not within the walls of this hospital, but I will do it outside if it's necessary. Take this as a threat because I mean it."

Rose's eyes were huge with fear and her voice was shaking when she tried to say something. She couldn't say more than an "I…"

"If you are going to report this to the Chief I will let everyone know what a slut you are and by this I mean I will lie and make you look even more ridiculous than you look now after the scene you made with Derek. And listen to me; none likes to work with filthy people." She shook her one more time against the wall and let her go of her.

"I am sorry," Rose begged quickly, her voice trembling. "I was drunk and… I swear I am not after you husband."

"Allow me not to believe you. Since the first day he came into this hospital you spotted him," she replied and Rose had to remember the time when she and Meredith shared their passion for the hot doctor, Derek Shepherd, without knowing back then that Meredith was his wife.

"I am sorry," Rose apologized and by her trembling voice she sounded sincere. "I was going to apologize for what happened last night. I tend to do stupid things when I am drunk."

Meredith felt a little sympathy for Rose in that moment. Maybe she was honest when she said it was a mistake and she was sorry. She had done some stupid things while she was drunk too, though some of those stupid things proved to be the best thing in her life. Meredith decided to calm down. She was ready to forgive her but not forget.

She took two steps back to give Rose space to leave the small room.

Rose, still shaking, smoothed her scrubs and walked to the door, stopping before opening it. "I am sorry," she apologized quietly. Meredith nodded once and waited for her to leave, but Rose opened the door just a little and then shut it back. "She won't hurt me, will she?" she asked, afraid of Izzie.

"She won't," Meredith reassured her and hid her amusement.

Rose stormed out the room then and hurried past Izzie. Izzie walked in, curious. "What happened? She's not bald. I didn't see any bruised eye or lip. You didn't even yell at her."

Meredith realized just then that she hadn't yelled at Rose as she had wanted too. Instead, her voice was threatening enough to scare her.

"We're in a hospital, Izzie," Meredith giggled, cheered now. "Handcuffs can be very uncomfortable."

Izzie laughed. "Do you think she wet her pants?"

"I hope so," Meredith laughed.

---

Meredith was in the locker room at the end of that evening, ready to leave, when Derek walked in. He looked around, pleased to see that Meredith was alone. It was also a late hour and most of the interns had left or were doing their night rounds.

"Hi," he smiled.

"Hi," she smiled back. She stood up, put the bag on her shoulder and walked up to him, taking his hand. "Let's go home. It was a long day," she sighed, resting her head against his shoulder.

"It was," he welcomed her into his arms and walked together from the locker room. "Are you better now?" he asked her, obviously referring at the Rose subject.

Meredith smiled at him and answered, "It was just a scare."

"Not a big scare though," he wanted to reassure her that she had no reason to scare.

"Minor," she smiled. "Derek? What's your primal instinct?"

"My primal what?" he asked her, amused.

"Why is everyone finding this question unusual?" Meredith rolled her eyes.

"Because you don't hear it very often. Or ever."

"Ok, but what's your primal instinct?"

Derek looked at her, confused with her curiosity, but as Meredith seemed to insist in receiving an answer, he thought about it. "Because we're some sort of animals too, I guess… defense and attack when we feel danger. And sex."

"Sex?" Meredith giggled.

"Yes. Sex can be considered a primal instinct too. It comes by nature since the beginning of the world."

"Hmm," Meredith found interesting his answer.

"Why? Do you have other primal instincts?" he laughed.

"No," Meredith giggled.

"I thought so too," he laughed, wrapping his arm around her waist. "Let's hurry home because one of my primal instincts might start shouting at me soon, asking for a repeat of the past night."


	38. Something outstanding

**Chapter 38 – Something outstanding**

Meredith moved the last box off the bed and, sweated, wiped her forehead. "How could so many things fit in a trailer?"

Derek's chuckled came from the kitchen area. "This says a lot about the real size of it."

Meredith couldn't help but roll her eyes, but also smile. "It's still small," she felt like she needed to disagree with him, at least one last time over their soon-to-be old house.

Derek went outside, carrying a box from the kitchen to his car. In the meantime, being alone, Meredith gave a look at the place where she had lived for the last 4 months and a half, and sighed with regret. She could not believe how hard it was for her to say goodbye to this place now. Though she had talked to Derek about keeping the trailer, Meredith still felt like part of the magic she and Derek had lived so far was disappearing. It felt to her like they were doing a bigger step- the biggest so far- in their relationship. They've been serious about their marriage for a while now, but it felt even more serious now.

Meredith stirred, snapping out of the trance when a loud engine sound seemed to be approaching their land and Doc soon started barking.

Derek walked in just then, coming to pick the last box. "The constructor is here," he announced, panting, as he was hurrying to take everything outside.

Meredith sighed and sudden sadness filled her heart. She composed herself and didn't want Derek to see her tearing eyes. As Derek walked outside, she wiped her eyes, ran her fingers through her hair, brushing it with a long sigh and slowly followed Derek. She stopped in the doorway and gave one last look inside. Maybe she should have asked Derek not to rush with the building of the house, but she also knew that this moment would have come at some point anyway and it wouldn't have been easier.

As walked outside the trailer, Meredith was surprised to see how crowded the place was. There was an excavator and two trucks, also a few small cars and lots of people.

"You must be Mrs. Shepherd," one of the men approached Meredith with a genuine smile, taking his hat off.

Meredith was staring at him, feeling the need to giggle. She wasn't used being called 'Mrs. Shepherd'. At work and for the rest of the people she knew, she was Meredith or Dr. Grey.

Derek chuckled as he stopped beside her, reading her thoughts easily.

Meredith shook the thoughts quickly and looked at the man with gray hair. "Mr. David?" She guessed he was the constructor, the one who helped Derek make the plan for their house.

Mr. David nodded and shook Meredith's hand. "We're going to be messy, but we promise we'll clean up."

"Do you think you can finish it before Christmas?" Derek asked him.

"It's mid October, so it depends on the weather. I'll bring more people but I don't want to give you an assurance," Mr. David told.

"Yes," Derek sighed. "It was a sudden plan, but don't worry. Take your time. Just do it right."

"Of course," Mr. David smiled. "You said you wanted to keep the trailer," he said, looking at it.

"Yes. You can move it somewhere in the back, not to be in your way," Derek said.

"Just be careful with it," Meredith warned him.

Mr. David smiled as if he understood Meredith's regret, "I promise. You chose a very beautiful place here," he stated, watching with admiration the landscape around them. "We've been asked to start building a new house, not very far from here. This place is getting popular."

"It is?" Derek asked, surprised and looked questioningly at Meredith maybe she heard something about their new neighbors. Meredith shrugged, as clueless as him.

"The price for the land nearby has increased twice from what I heard," Mr. David nodded. "We have to get started now."

"Ok. We'll keep in touch by phone," Derek shook his head.

"Goodbye, Mrs. Shepherd," Mr. David smiled politely at Meredith and left to gather his team.

A new fear started filling Meredith's thoughts; what if her relationship was going to change now that they were no longer going to live in their trailer? That was a stupid thought, she answered herself. The trailer wasn't what kept their relationship going.

"Doc," Derek started calling for the dog, which was running from one worker to another, smelling, growling or just checking the people from his land. At his master's call, Doc hesitated a little like he didn't trust or like those people, but as Derek and Meredith were heading to the car Doc understood they were leaving somewhere.

Meredith buckled herself on her seat and waited for Derek to get Doc inside, refusing to look back at their land and watch the trailer being picked up.

When Derek got in, he noticed something changed at Meredith, but didn't suspect the reason for it. He decided not to ask her and let her confess if she wanted.

"We shouldn't be disappointed if we don't have the house ready by Christmas," Derek said. He tried to get something out from Meredith as they were driving for a while now and Meredith hadn't said a word.

Meredith shrugged her shoulders, staring out her window.

"It was nice of your parents to let us stay in their old house until ours is ready," Derek said then.

Meredith nodded her head, slowly.

Derek sighed, confused with Meredith's state. "Meredith?"

Meredith looked at him, thoughtful for a while. Then she asked, "Wouldn't have been better if we started the work for the new house next spring? Or after Christmas?"

Derek still didn't understand the reason for her depression. "I don't think your parents will change their minds and kick us out of the house for the second time."

"Yes. We'll see," Meredith grumbled, glaring out the window now.

Derek gave up. She had woken up in a good mood that morning, but since they started packing, her mood became crankier. As he thought about that, Derek understood. Meredith was feeling sorry for leaving the trailer. He tried to hide his amusement, not to piss her off even more. He had had some suspicions that she had become fond of the trailer, but to have it proved was making him happy. She seemed to be his type of woman indeed.

From Meredith's parents' house, where they dropped the last boxes and let Doc get familiar with the house, Derek took them to the hospital.

Meredith managed to arrive in time, just when Dr. Bailey walked into the residents' locker. "Cristina, you're with Dr. Shepherd today and Meredith, you're covering Cristina down in the clinic."

"What?" Meredith heard that. "I am assigned to his service for the rest of the week," she protested.

Dr. Bailey shrugged and answered simply before she walked out, "His request."

Meredith looked questioningly at Cristina, but Cristina ignored her and walked past her, going to find Derek. It had been over a week already since Meredith and Cristina stopped talking with each other. Meredith stopped from changing her clothes and tried to think of the reasons why Derek chose Cristina to be in his service that day. Maybe her depression regarding the moving made him feel she was pissed about something. She shouldn't have been depressed, she scolded herself.

In the meantime, Derek was waiting for Cristina into a conference room.

"You didn't change your clothes," Cristina noticed his street clothes.

Derek replied with his best genuine smile, which made Cristina roll her eyes each time. "Take a seat," he motioned to a chair beside him.

Cristina frowned, not sensing something good. "I am good here. Let's hear what is about so I can start working right away."

"Sit down and let me present you the case. It's something special. Out of ordinary, actually," Derek answered.

Cristina looked at him with more susceptibility now. "Why didn't you choose Meredith? She is supposed to be under your service."

Derek kept smiling and motioned for her one more time to take a seat. "Let me explain you why."

Cristina finally gave up and decided to listen. She pulled the chair and sat down.

Derek smiled and leaned over the table. He wanted to take Cristina's hand, but she pulled it back quickly as if his touch had burned her.

Derek insisted and grabbed her hand, but having just a second to study it before Cristina pulled it back and hid it under the desk. He chuckled at her reaction. "I am not going to ask you to marry me. I wouldn't do it even I were drunk."

Cristina pushed the chair back and stood up, angry and ready to leave.

"I am sorry," Derek stood up quickly also and stopped her. "Just sit down. I am going to tell you right away what is about."

Cristina still looked doubtfully at him. She folded her arms across her chest and stayed up, but listening.

"I want to propose Meredith and you seem to have similar fingers with hers," Derek started explaining and hurried to add when Cristina looked like she was about to protest. "I know this is unusual and I promise I will make it up to you for the time you will lose today from work. You won't even miss long. Please!"

"I am a doctor, not a model."

"I know and as I said, I will make it up to you. You name the surgery and you have it," Derek offered. "Besides, you're Meredith's best friend. Or you used to be."

"That's none of your business," Cristina retorted. "How come you want to propose her? You're already married."

"First of all," Derek answered calmly, "Meredith doesn't have an engagement ring. Secondly, it is my business because Meredith is my wife and I can see that she's not ok with the fight you two have. Just take a seat and listen." He insisted, but Cristina was too stubborn to give in and stayed on her feet. Derek gave up at that too. "I don't care much what's going on with you, but I want to help if I can because you're Meredith's friend and she cares about you. I know you didn't mean what you told her about us, because I know you don't believe it either. You don't have to go and say you're sorry. Just do something to tell her that you're sorry. Come with me and help me buy her a ring. I will tell her you helped."

Cristina didn't say anything and that was a good sign. At least she had stopped protesting.

"I am not judging you; Meredith didn't tell me much about what happened between you and Preston and Preston keeps it quiet also," Derek continued. "Do whatever you feel like it is right for you; just don't push your friends away because it always comes a time when you need them the most."

"So you want to help me buy her a ring," Cristina didn't let him continue.

"That's right."

"Ok," Cristina agreed.

Derek stood up smiling gratefully. He would have shaken hands with her at least, but he knew that such gesture was too much for Cristina. "Thank you."

"The surgery better be something outstanding," she warned him.

Derek smiled reassuringly. "I am waiting for you in the lobby."

"Ok," Cristina answered and left the room.

Derek smiled, impressed with his success. He hoped that was what Meredith and Cristina needed to be friends again. Content with the results so far, Derek had to think about a way to give Meredith the ring. _That_ he wanted to be outstanding.

As he walked out of the room also, Derek ran into an unhappy Meredith. He wanted to say something, but Meredith pushed him back inside and closed the door.

"I am sorry," Meredith started explaining herself. "I am in a bad mood. I had a bad sleep last night, but it doesn't mean that you have to take me off your service. We all have bad days."

"Meredith," Derek chuckled, trying to reassure her that he had nothing against her bad mood; especially not after he suspected the reason for it.

"No. I am sorry, but what you're doing is unprofessional."

"It is," Derek admitted. "It is very unprofessional and I am sorry for it, but I don't see other way to solve it."

"Solve what? The fact that I am in a bad mood is so bad to you?"

Derek smiled genuinely and pulled her into his arms. "I love all your mood swings. I can't get enough of them."

"Derek," Meredith giggled at his tease.

"No. I am honest," he kissed her. "After you finish in the clinic, you can come and help Cristina. You know more about my patients than her."

"I can't join her later, because I will have to leave for a while at lunch."

"You do? Why?" Derek asked, confused.

Meredith took an envelope out of her pocket and waved it a Derek, smiling smugly.

"What's that? Don't tell me you won at lottery again?" he laughed.

"Not really," she giggled. "But my luggage is back. Lexie received the letter."

"It is? That's a miracle!"

"You can say that again. After nearly five months, I didn't expect to have my things back." She admitted. She wanted to say more, but she stopped as she noticed something at Derek. "You haven't changed your clothes yet."

"I will do it as soon as you let me out of here," he laughed.

"Ok. Then I will see you around," she said and headed to the door. She opened it, but closed it back then. "Oh and you owe me for whatever you took me off your service."

"Don't worry," Derek smirked.

"Sex is not included. Consider a surgery. Something outstanding."

"Hmm," Derek chuckled, already suffering at the thought of his debts. "I will see what I can do."

Meredith smiled and waved 'bye' going to her duties.

"Expensive women," Derek sighed and shook his head. Despite this, he was still content with the way his plans were going. Meredith would soon have a ring and her best friend back.

He was about to leave the room again, when the Chief ran into him. "Shepherd!" he exclaimed, pleased to see him. "I was looking for you."

"Ok. You found me."

The Chief handed him a letter. "I think you got your lost luggage back. Adele received it yesterday."

Derek stared at the envelope, surprised. "Meredith got hers back also."

The Chief shrugged, not really interested. "Celebrate it at home."

"We will," Derek laughed.

As the chief was out of the room, Derek hurried to leave as he didn't have time for another interruption. He put the envelope into his pocket and went to meet Cristina down in the main lobby.

On their way back from the jewelry store, Derek was thoughtful, while Cristina was with her own thoughts.

"She won't like it," Derek concluded, defeated.

"I know," Cristina smiled.

Derek sighed, shaking his head. "Big rock. Why did you make me buy a big rock?"

"You know the answer," she shrugged.

"Cristina," Derek groaned. "She's your friend."

"You don't know the answer," Cristina concluded. "I chose that one because you can afford it."

"But Meredith won't like it. I shouldn't have let you convince me."

"I know Meredith better than you," Cristina wanted to reassure him. "Besides that, you didn't buy the Everest Mountain. It's just a diamond."

Derek frowned, not liking Cristina's help. He could have done a better choice without anyone's help. He had doubts now if he should give Meredith this ring or wait longer until he would change it with another one.


	39. Back in time

**Chapter 39 –Back in time  
**

Meredith hurried out from the locker room, freeing her hair and hurrying to catch an elevator. As she stepped in, she saw Derek, same as her, dressed in his street clothes.

"You paged me?" she asked him confused.

"Yes, and we meet in time. I am coming with you at the airport," he answered with a smirk.

Meredith chuckled. "Don't tell me."

Derek nodded smugly. "I told you our luggage traveled together. They were somewhere sunny." As he said that, Derek saw Meredith lost in her thoughts and he could easily guess where her thoughts were; back in time, the day they met, which was also the day they left together to Las Vegas.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Meredith stirred, coming out of her day-dream and smiled at him. "We should go to Venice one day and have a ride with the gondolas."

"We have to," he agreed. "Maybe in our honeymoon."

Meredith grinned at him. "Honeymoon?"

"We have to have one," Derek pointed out. "You know, we didn't have a honeymoon right after the wedding, so I think we can have as many honeymoons we want, to catch up."

Meredith giggled, visibly thrilled with his plan; although, their months so far hadn't been far from a honeymoon.

The elevator stopped to a floor on its way down to the main lobby and at that floor, the Chief got in. He stopped briefly as he saw them and told Derek as he turned his back on them, "You've been in your street clothes today more than usual."

"Just a quick ride to the airport and we will be back right away," Derek reassured him.

At Richard's words, Meredith looked at Derek, confused. She didn't know what the Chief meant when he said that Derek wore the street clothes more than usual today. Derek made a sign to stay quiet as he would explain her everything.

As Derek gave him that reassurance, Richard turned suddenly to them, panic written all over his face. "To the airport? What are you doing at the airport?"

Derek started laughing at his presumption. "We've been talking about Africa for a while now…" he answered mockingly.

Richard narrowed his eyes, half believing him, half not.

"Don't worry! We'll bring gifts this time," Derek kept making fun of him.

"Be serious, Derek!" The Chief scolded, starting to realize now that he was being mocked.

"How can you think something like this about us," Derek chuckled with a shake from his head as sign of disappointment.

"I wonder how," Richard retorted sarcastically.

Derek took Meredith's left hand and saw her ring. "Oh, right," he pretended to remember. "We got our luggage back and we don't want to lose it again, so we are going to pick it up now. You will have us back soon."

"Just you two and in the same state you are right now," Richard warned them, Derek in particularly.

The elevator stopped again and that was the Chief's floor. After he stepped out, he turned and watched Derek and Meredith until the elevator's doors closed. They both could see him shaking his head once the doors closed.

"What did he mean by that?" Meredith asked him now that they were alone.

"I am not sure," he lied and acted as if he didn't know what was about.

Meredith looked at him with suspicion and wanted to insist in finding out, but the elevator brought them in the main lobby of the hospital and they had to hurry to their car.

--------

The claiming lost luggage office wasn't very crowded when Derek and Meredith arrived there and they could give a brief look at the poor people that were filling papers for their lost luggage.

Between those people, they saw a young man discreetly eying the woman beside him. Derek and Meredith smiled at each other.

After they had to fill out other forms, the officer asked them to wait for someone to bring them the suitcases.

Derek took Meredith and sat down on a bench, having from there a good view over the office.

"Can you believe it?" Meredith asked him quietly, without referring at something concrete.

"It is hard to believe, but I believed," Derek answered, somehow guessing her thoughts.

They could not believe where they were today.

Meredith nodded her head once, in agreement with him. "I can't wait to go to Venice," Meredith sighed, day-dreaming.

Derek chuckled. "What for? The gondola ride or _the other _ride?"

Meredith giggled understandingly. "Both rides."

Derek put his arm around her shoulders, laughing. "Me too."

"When are we going to plan the first honeymoon?" she asked him.

"The _first_ honeymoon?" Derek laughed. "I don't know." And that answer brought him some thoughts. He hadn't had time to change Meredith's ring yet and he thought it would be better to talk about the honeymoon after they planned the wedding party. For the wedding party preparations to start, he wanted first to propose to her.

Meredith put her head on his shoulder and said, "It has to be before the divorce."

"Absolutely," Derek agreed. "So we have time for it."

Meredith smiled at him. "We have. So tell me," Meredith said, slowly coming out of their moment of tenderness. "Did you decide if you want to move in Seattle or you want to go somewhere else sunnier?"

"Are you kidding me?" Derek frowned. "I don't know how I lived without the rain until now," he answered and plastered a grin on his face.

"It's not that bad, is it?"

"It's not," he smiled, gently rubbing the pad of his thumb against her cheek. "I had serious thoughts not to stay here the day I arrived to Seattle and I am sure that I would have left the next day if I hadn't met you that evening at Joe's."

"I remember that evening," Meredith answered. "We were about to be caught wandering through the hospital and assisting to surgeries. I chickened out otherwise you wouldn't have met me that evening."

"Thank goodness for your lack of courage," he laughed teasingly.

"Lack of courage?" Meredith gasped, frowning. "I proved to have some spirit of adventure when I left with you, a complete stranger."

Derek just smiled. "I wasn't that stranger. We had met before and we had shared a lot of things."

"Like what?" Meredith giggled.

"Like the despair of having the luggage lost, the hard work with filling those papers and even a pen. I still didn't get my pen back, by the way."

"Do you want it back?" she asked him.

"Not really, but I'd like to know it's still somewhere around."

"It's in my locker and if you had missed it for real, you'd have seen me filling the charts with it. I had to recharge it though."

"So it's in good hands," Derek chuckled.

"I don't know," Meredith shrugged her shoulders with flirty gesture. "You tell me."

Derek took her hand and played with her fingers. "Great hands. I am happy for it."

Meredith giggled and elbowed him playfully.

"You said you had something important in one of your suitcases. What is that?" Derek asked her with curiosity, remembering the day they filled those forms together.

Meredith answered with a smile. "Some memories."

"Hmm," Derek wasn't sure he liked this answer.

"You might see my memories," Meredith teased him. "if you behave yourself."

"I am the best husband in the world," he replied.

Meredith smiled and rolled her eyes. "Don't go that high."

"Seriously," Derek insisted.

Meredith found teasing Derek very entertaining. He was going to find out soon anyway, so she decided to play with him. "I hope nobody stole those 'memories'."

"I hope so too, because I really want to see them," he frowned.

"As I said, maybe you will," she smiled. She turned her attention over the room again and the first thing she looked at was the young couple. They were asking each other's help now. "This lasts too much. We had to wait nearly 5 months and now we have to wait another hours?"

Derek patted her leg comfortingly.

Meredith was getting tired, so she put her head on his shoulder again. Derek welcomed her into his arms and rested his cheek against her head. They stood in silence with their memories about the day they met.

As they stood there and Derek held Meredith that way in his arms, he felt like this was the perfect time and place. He hadn't left the ring at the hospital, so he could do it right away. Suddenly at this idea, his stomach flipped. He couldn't remember when the last time he felt this nervous was. He was sure she wouldn't like the ring, but he was going to change it with another one. He was sure she would understand.

Derek pulled away from their embrace and patted the pocket that had the ring. This was the perfect time for proposing. This was outstanding enough for a proposal.

"What is it?" she asked him when she saw him fussing in his seat.

"Nothing," he smiled reassuringly.

Meredith eyed him suspiciously.

"Don't give me this look because it frightens me," Derek frowned. "And it intimidates me too."

"Do I intimidate you?" Meredith laughed.

"Sometimes," Derek shrugged.

Meredith leaned to him and whispered, "I don't intimidate you in bed, do I?"

"No," he chuckled. "I just have to do something. Something important and you intimidate me if you give me this suspicious look."

"What do have to do?" she asked and tried not to look suspicious.

Derek put his hand into the pocket and hid the box into his palm. He stood up from the bench and knelt in front of Meredith.

"Derek?" Meredith asked him, almost speechless.

Derek revealed the box in his hand and felt his heart racing madly in his chest when he opened the box. He didn't know how he found the energy for the words, "Will you marry me?"

Meredith stared at him in complete shock.

"I mean, I know. We're married, but… will you marry me again?"

Meredith had to remember how to breathe and swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. She looked in Derek's eyes and saw them blurry. Then she realized she was tearing. She smiled at him and nodded slowly.

Derek jumped up and scooped her into his arms almost instinctively. He held her head between his hands and kissed her feverishly.

As they come out for air and Meredith wiped her eyes, she giggled. "Thank God you didn't squeal."

"Hmm," someone cleared its throat behind them, apologizing for disturbing. They turned and saw an officer. "Congratulations!" he told them. "But please keep it down."

"We will," Derek laughed and wrapped his arms around Meredith.

Derek pulled Meredith back on the bench and took the ring out of the box. He took her left hand and slid it against her wedding band. He was anxiously waiting for Meredith's protest toward the ring now.

Meredith let her hand rest in his and smiled, looking into his eyes. Derek was still waiting, but surprisingly Meredith had no reaction to the ring in particularly.

"Do you actually like the ring?" Derek chuckled.

Meredith gave a better look at it as he asked her that. The rock was a little too big for her taste, but it was her engagement ring so she had to like it. "I won't wear it much," she smiled apologetically. "I have to take it off each time I scrub in."

"I will buy you a necklace and you can wear it attached to it," he answered.

"Ok," she smiled.

"But do you like it? I could change it for something smaller."

Meredith giggled. "Are you kidding me? I will keep it. You never know. Maybe my kids and I will be starving one day."

Derek laughed at her joke. "You and your kids will never starve," he assured her.

"Then I guess I could scratch your car with it if we divorce."

"Hmm," Derek wasn't very happy to hear that. "Apparently, Cristina knew you would like it. And she knew why too."

"Cristina?" Meredith asked, confused. "Speaking of Cristina. She passed past me earlier and smiled. She smiled at me. Why are you talking about Cristina? Did she…"

"She did." He smiled. "You two need each other," he said softly, caressing her cheek.

Meredith sighed and smiled. "Thank you."

"No reason to," he reassured her.

"Mr. Shepherd?" an officer called for Derek and motioned for him to go to him.

After Derek took his suitcase, it was Meredith's turn to go and take hers. Surprisingly, all the suitcases looked in good state. Derek took one of Meredith's suitcases, but left them aside for a moment. He walked up to the man that had filled his form and was about to leave it at the office.

"Excuse me," Derek apologized and leaned to his ear. "If you meet her later today, marry her right away."

"What?" the man asked, amused and confused at the same time.

Derek just smiled and went back to Meredith.

"I hope you didn't tell him what I think you did," she giggled.

"Let's go back to the hospital," he answered with a grin and Meredith shook her head.

"Maybe you have just ruined their lives," she said.

"You're exaggerating as always," he chuckled.

They were heading to the exit together, Derek dragging two suitcases after him and Meredith just one, and they were joking about the presumed residence of their luggage when they heard someone calling.

"Meredith? Meredith!"

They stopped and Meredith looked at Derek. "Is someone calling me?"

"I don't know," Derek looked around, trying to see who was calling.

"Oh my God! Meredith!" a man's voice squealed.

Meredith was still trying to see who was calling for her, but Derek was faster. He saw a man making himself room through a crowd, waving his hand to them.

"Do you know that guy?" he asked Meredith and pointed to the place he saw him.

Meredith saw him too. Her features froze and all she could do was mutter, "Oh my God. No."

"Who is he?" Derek asked her.

Meredith let her suitcase fall off her hand and sighed. Today they were definitely going back in time.


	40. Prettier

**Chapter 40 – Prettier **

"He knows you," Derek noticed. "Who is he?" he asked and tried not to sound jealous and rather curious.

Meredith had her thoughts in complete haze. At Derek's question, she managed to calm down her thoughts a little. She put her hands on Derek and said while pushing him further into a corner, "Can you stay there just a little bit?"

That offended Derek. "No."

"Please," Meredith begged him, in all this time looking after the guy that had called her name. When she looked back after him, it was too late because he was only two feet away from her.

"Meredith!" the man squealed and pulled Meredith into his arms, holding her into his embrace too long.

"Matthew," Meredith muttered.

The guy named Matthew loosened his arms from around her body, but still held her as he looked at her. "I can't believe I found you so fast. Oh, I am so sorry, Meredith. You have no idea how much I missed you. I am sorry I pushed you with the marriage. We don't have to get married. Let's just go back to what we were before. Look, I won't even ask you to move back to Boston. I'll graduate the Med School soon and I can start my practice here."

Meredith just looked at him, without listening to him. Just a few words were passing by her ear, but she was too dazzled to process them very well.

"I can't believe I found here. You were on vacation? I thought you wouldn't be able to take a vacation during your first year as intern."

Meredith had pushed Derek aside and he stood and watched everything, too confused and shocked with the sudden meeting. He didn't have to ask who that guy was anymore. It was obvious that it was Meredith's ex.

Matthew pulled Meredith back into his arms and this time, took her head into his hands and pressed a kiss against her lips.

Meredith became rigid immediately and raised her hands in defense. She had to use force to pull away.

Derek decided to step in, clearing his throat.

Matthew noticed Derek for the first time. "Hi," he smiled. He looked at Meredith then. "Were you gone with work?"

Meredith couldn't find her words right away so she just shook her head. "What are you doing here?" she asked him, coming back to self control now.

"I told you. For you," he answered. "I know it took me this long, but trust me, I missed you so much."

Meredith had to process fast now. She was aware of Derek's presence there and she didn't want to ruin what they had built so far.

She took a step back from Matthew and answered, "5 months is longer than a while. Now that you're here," she paused and turned to Derek, "I'd like you to meet Derek," she said and Derek took her hand.

Matthew looked at him again and smiled, not paying attention to their holding hands. "Hi. You must be…"

"My husband."

"Meredith's husband."

Meredith and Derek answered at the same time and didn't let him finish his false impression.

"Your what?" He chuckled, obviously not believing them at first, but then, as he looked at Meredith and saw her serious face, he looked down at her left hand. He saw the two rings on her finger and started to believe them. "I can't believe this," he muttered.

Meredith answered to that with a shrug from her shoulders and Matthew saw that. "That's it?" he asked her, ironically shrugging his shoulders too. "That's all you have to say?"

"What do you want her to say?" Derek retorted. He felt he was getting angrier with this guy with each minute that passed.

"Stay out of this," Matthew retorted also, without raising his voice, but the tone of it showed how angry he was.

"There's nothing he has to stay out of," Meredith snapped at him. "What do you want me to feel guilty? Do you want me to apologize for moving on? You dumped me."

"No. We both fought and agreed to break up," Matthew retorted. "And this is how you moved on? You didn't want to marry me but you married this guy?"

"Hey," Derek warned him, not liking the way he was referring at him.

Matthew chose to ignore Derek. "What kind of relationship is this? Did you know him? How come after 5 months you're married?" he asked Meredith.

"We just are," Meredith answered simply.

"We just are," Matthew muttered sarcastically. He ran his hands through his blonde curls, sighing with exasperation. Slowly he seemed to be calming down. "You are just coming back from the honeymoon?" he asked her and glanced at Derek too.

Meredith looked at Derek before she found the courage to tell the truth. "Actually we've been married for a while now."

Matthew looked confused. "May I know how long?"

Meredith shrugged. "5 months, I guess."

Matthew stared at her for a moment while he processed everything. "5 months ago you were still with me. Were you cheating on me?" he asked and maintained the calm.

"No," Meredith answered. "I met Derek when I arrived to Seattle. In this airport."

Matthew stared at her longer this time.

"Yes," Meredith decided to help him understand. "We got married the same day we met. Kind of. Or it was the next day?" she asked Derek.

Derek wanted to answer, but Matthew cut in, nervous. "I don't need to know. We've been together for so long and you turned me down when I proposed to you, but later you married with a guy you just met. Were you drunk or he forced you?"

Meredith didn't have to answer to that. "You were drunk." He answered himself. He shook his head and remained silent with his thoughts.

Derek was getting impatient with this situation also and checked his watch. "We have to go back to the hospital, Meredith."

Meredith was more than glad to get out of that situation too. "We should hurry," she nodded her head. She looked at Matthew and she would have wanted to tell him something. She didn't want to apologize because she had no reason to, but she would have told him something comforting. He looked like he needed some comfort.

"We have to go," was all she found to say to him.

Matthew just looked at her and didn't answer. As he didn't seem to have anything else to say to her either, Derek took the suitcases and motioned for Meredith go with him.

Meredith sighed and flashed Matthew an apologetic smile before she turned and followed Derek. Matthew stayed in the same spot as if the news had frozen him.

In the car, neither of them said anything. Neither of them knew what to say about what had just happened. Meredith could guess what Derek was feeling though; it was enough to watch his fingers nervously tapping against the steering wheel.

"This airport is weird," Meredith broke the silence after a while.

"Hmm," Derek just muttered.

Meredith sighed, tired with his mood. "Don't tell me you are jealous."

"Why would I be?" he retorted sarcastically.

"Derek," she sighed.

"Don't Derek me with a sigh," he grumbled.

"What do you want me to say or do? I didn't call him and ask him to come here. Besides, you knew about my ex before we got married."

Derek knew he had no reason to be angry with Meredith, but he couldn't help but feel a little jealous. "How old is he anyway? He didn't even finish the Med School."

"He is just a little bit younger than me," she answered matter-of-factly.

Derek didn't say anything else and as he kept driving, the anger he felt toward that guy Matthew started fading. Meredith saw he was calming down and coming back to normal. That was one of the things Meredith really liked about Derek; each time he lost his calm, he got it back quickly without becoming aggressive.

"This airport is weird indeed," Derek agreed when he stopped at the red light and let his hands off the steering wheel. He looked at his right and smiled at Meredith. "I wasn't jealous."

"Sure," Meredith giggled. She knew better.

"You didn't have the courage to make the step then, but do you think it would have worked as it works for us now?" he asked her.

"I don't know," Meredith answered. "He is a really nice guy; he's thoughtful, sensitive and supportive. Sometimes he's funny too. But I don't think we would have had any chance as married couple."

Derek watched her, curious with her confession. He was a modest man, but all the things she said about Matthew could be used for his description too. An angry honk awake Derek from his confusion and Derek drove away. "So you think you wouldn't have had any chance. Why is that?"

"I don't know," Meredith answered frankly.

"Hmm," Derek nodded. "I have a question. What's the difference between me and him?"

Meredith was caught off guard with that question. "You are…" she had trouble in finding a difference.

While Meredith was thinking about that, Derek kept driving and giving her glances from time to time, still waiting for an answer. By the frown on her face, Meredith looked like she was deeply thinking.

"We're alike?" he asked her.

"No!"

"Ok, then what's the difference between me and him. Why do you think you wouldn't have had a chance with him, but you have with me?"

"Because…"

Derek glanced at her and nodded, encouraging her to go on.

"Because you're prettier," she answered.

"I am what?" Derek chuckled. "Prettier?"

"Yes."

"Ok. That's good. I guess," he muttered. Honestly, he had expected on something more than just prettier, but prettier was nice of her to say too, he comforted himself.

-------

By the time they arrived at the hospital, the tension between them disappeared. They didn't know what Matthew was going to do now after such news, but they knew they were going to deal together.

Being back to work, Matthew was almost forgotten. Meredith had a break later in the afternoon and so she decided to go to the locker room and check on her suitcases to see if she received all her things back.

Just one suitcase had a special interest for her, so that was the first one she unzipped. Between other clothes she had brought with her, there were also a photo album and a black dress. Meredith had a smile on her face as she ran her hand over those two objects. Her thoughts drifted back in time and she didn't notice when the locker room door opened.

"You carry those with you everywhere?" a man asked her, amused.

Meredith stirred at that voice and as she looked up at the door, there he was; tall and elegant in his long jacket, with his blonde curls raveled. Matthew was smiling at her, but less excited than earlier that day.

"How did you get in here?" she asked him.

Matthew chuckled as he made a step forward. "I am still kind of charming so it wasn't hard to convince a nurse to help."

"Hmm," Meredith nodded. "Let's see if your charm will help you come out of the trouble with the Chief." Then, as they seemed to feel more comfortable with each other, Meredith smiled wearily. "What do you want?"

Matthew shrugged his shoulders and walking inside, he took a seat on the bench across from Meredith. "I guess the only thing I want now is to understand."

"Understand what?"

"Why are you doing this? You're still with the man you married in Vegas," he answered. "He's a stranger to you. And I also find it hard to believe that you'd do something like this just to get easier over your first year as resident."

Meredith held a hand in the air, stopping him. "First of all, how do you know about Vegas? And second of all, he's no longer a stranger to me."

"I went to see your parents," Matthew answered with calm.

"You did what?"

"I had to go and find a good explanation of what has happened to you."

"And?" Meredith questioned. "Did you find a good one?"

Matthew shrugged again. "You were drunk."

"I was drunk. We were both drunk and we were in Vegas, drinking, gambling and talking about our exes. The next morning we woke up with wedding bands on our fingers," Meredith explained.

"Are you sure this marriage is valid?" Matthew asked her.

"It is, so don't get any hope, because what was between us ended the day I arrived in Seattle. We are going to make this marriage to work. I want to."

Matthew listened calmly to her and in the end he nodded his head. "Your mother was very firm too."

"My mother?"

"Yes," Matthew nodded. "She was at home when I went to see your dad. She asked me not to cause you trouble. Besides this, I can see that this is what you really want."

Dumbfounded with what Matthew had said about her mother, Meredith just muttered, "It is."

"Is he behaving nice to you?"

"Yes," Meredith nodded. "Derek is great."

Matthew hesitated a little before he asked, "Better than me?"

Meredith just smiled and didn't have the courage to answer. Matthew let out a chuckle then. "I won't ask more. Your silence says everything."

"Why do you want to know the compare with the ex?" Meredith asked intrigued. "Of course I wouldn't tell my actual how great my ex was and of course I wouldn't tell my ex how poor the actual is. "

"I know," Matthew laughed. "Women tend to go for better."

Meredith just smiled. "He is a very decent man," she added.

Matthew sighed and smiling sympathetically, gave a brief look around him. His eyes locked on her opened suitcase again. "Do you know what my regret is now?" he asked. "That I didn't get to see you dressed in this."

Meredith picked up her dress from the suitcase. "My prom dress. I never wore it."

"Maybe you should," he smiled and he was talking about a dinner with Derek, of course.

"Maybe I should," she smiled.

"Ok," he sighed and broke the intimate silence they shared for a moment. He stood up and turned again to Meredith. "Take care. I am glad you moved on."

"Thank you," she smiled.

Matthew nodded and waved his hand as he turned to the door.

"What are you going to do now?" she stopped him.

"I will spend a day or two around, then I am going back to Boston," he answered.

"Ok," she nodded. "Good luck."

Matthew smiled and turned back to the door. Just then, Derek walked in. He froze in the doorway, surprised to find Matthew in there with Meredith.

Matthew didn't say anything to Derek and just walked past him, out of the locker room, leaving Derek look questioningly at Meredith.

In the meantime, Meredith put the dress back in the suitcase. "I am on call tonight, but what do you say if we go out for dinner tomorrow?"

"Why?" he asked, a little suspicious. "Do you have anything to announce?"

"No," Meredith chuckled at his jealousy. "But I have something to show you."

"Hint?" he asked.

"No hint," Meredith teased.

She zipped her suitcase and put it next to the other. "Take this home with you when you leave."

"I will," he answered, satisfied to see Meredith calm and the relationship between them as it was before they met Matthew at the airport.

Meredith walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressed her body against his and mewed against his lips. Derek chuckled and brushed her hair out of her face. "I can't even brag with my beautiful fiancé."

Meredith giggled. "No, but you can brag with your wife."

"Hmm," Derek grinned against her lips. "That's even better, because I can brag with her for the rest of my life."

"Cheesy," Meredith giggled and kissed him quickly before she pulled back from his arms. "I have the pit waiting."

"And Cristina's charts because you're coming back to me."

Meredith just smiled and left the locker room, going back to her work.

-----

The next day, it was in the evening, a little before Derek had to meet Meredith in the lobby to take her out for dinner, when Mark called after Derek.

"Hey," Derek stopped to let his friend caught up with him. "What's up?"

"Who is this guy?" Mark asked him, out of breath.

"What guy?"

"This guy Matthew," Mark answered with frustration.

"He's Meredith's ex," Derek answered, amused with Mark's face.

"What is he doing here?"

"I am not sure what he's doing here now, but I don't care because it doesn't have anything to do with Meredith anymore."

"Then find out what's his plan," Mark frowned. "Maybe you should try and find something. Maybe he has a secret plan for your wife."

"No, he doesn't," Derek frowned, not liking what his friend was saying.

"Maybe he wants to kidnap her. You just find out. See how long he intends to stay, where he will live during his stay."

"What did he do to you?" Derek asked, suspicious.

"To me? Nothing."

"Then I am not curious to investigate his life."

"You should," Mark grumbled.

"Tell me why," Derek insisted, curious.

Mark remained silent for a moment, like he was looking for an answer, "Because that's your job as husband."

Derek knew he was hiding something. He was determined not to listen to Mark. "Meredith said he would leave tomorrow morning. He has to go back to school."

"Back to school?" Mark chuckled. "I knew he couldn't be older than 20."

"He is a little older than 20."

"Any younger male than you should stay away from your wife. You should be aware of him."

Derek was even more curious now to find out the real reason for Mark's rage against Matthew. Slowly, Derek started to process. He had seen Matthew at the hospital besides the visit he had paid to Meredith in the locker room and when he saw him, he saw him with Lexie.

"Why don't you ask Lexie?" Derek asked him. "I saw she's getting along with him very well."

"I know," Mark grumbled obviously.

Derek chuckled at his reaction. "You're jealous of him."

"I am not!" Mark protested. "I don't care what Lexie does and I am not afraid of him. I am better than him. And I mean by all meanings."

Derek knew better what his answer really meant. Then he remembered the comfort Meredith had used for him. "You're much prettier than him."

"Prettier?" Mark grimaced. "I am God compared to him! Prettier is not even a comparison. When someone tells you that you're prettier than the other, then you should start thinking of how honest that person is."

Derek rolled his eyes and didn't want to let Mark's words to annoy him.

Mark noticed his friend's displeasure and started to suspect something. "Did Meredith use 'prettier' as comparison?"

"What so if she did?" Derek huffed.

Mark shook his head with disapproval. "I told you. Be aware."

"I am satisfied with prettier. Prettier means that I am better than him. Even just a little. She finds me prettier than him."

Mark kept shaking his head. "Stop doing that!" Derek frowned. "You know nothing. Besides, he's not after Meredith anymore. He likes Lexie now, because he knows she's still available," Derek knew his sensitive spot now. "I saw them talking and laughing yesterday and today they had lunch in cafeteria."

"I don't care," Mark huffed and as he couldn't listen to his friend anymore, he turned away and left back to the elevators.

"He likes Lexie," Derek noticed, smiling surprised.

"Who likes Lexie?" Meredith asked, walking up behind him.

Derek turned to her with a smile. "Everyone likes Lexie."

"Including you?" Meredith smiled, lifting a brow.

"She's a good girl, but she's not my type," he answered. "Are you ready to go?"

Meredith nodded, feeling nervous as if they were on their first date. She was wearing her black dress now and she was anxiously waiting for Derek's impression toward it. Just that Derek put a hand on her back, gave her a kiss and led her to the exit.

He didn't even look at her dress, Meredith noticed with displeasure. Therefore, during the ride to the restaurant, Meredith wasn't very chatty. She just gave him short answers. Derek noticed that but he thought she was just tired after a 48 hour shift.

They walked into the restaurant together and a waiter led them to their table, which Derek had reserved into a private corner, with a beautiful view over Seattle. The sky was clear that evening and stars and lights were shining over the city.

"You said you had something to show me," Derek remembered.

Meredith spread the napkin onto her lap and grumbling a 'yes.'

Derek was waiting.

"I already did," she grumbled. "My dress."

"Your dress?" Derek asked, confused.

"The dress I am wearing right now is my prom dress; which I never got to wear it."

Derek understood then she wasn't just tired. How was he to know she wanted to be admired? She wasn't that kind of girl. Besides that, he didn't know the story about her prom dress. He decided to make it up for his lack of attention though.

He leaned over the table and took her hand. "Meredith, if I get to look into your beautiful green eyes before looking at your wardrobe, then everything else disappears."

"Derek," Meredith groaned in protest, but Derek could see her blushing and a small smile playing at the corner of her lips.

Derek chuckled at her reaction. "I am sorry," he apologized sincerely.

Meredith could not be upset with him anymore; not after such cheesiness.

"How come it's your prom dress but you never wore it?" he asked her.

"I sprained my ankle and because of this my date ditched me," Meredith answered.

"I am sorry," Derek squeezed her hand in comfort.

"Please don't! He smelled like onion all the time," she said.

"Onion?" Derek laughed.

"Yeah. He was using two cologne in the same time because he liked the combination, but he was the only one that liked it."

"I am still sorry that you couldn't go to the prom. I would have taken you even if you had your ankle in cast."

"Thanks," Meredith giggled. "Anyway, I like this dress. It's special to me because this is the first thing that I bought with my own money. I worked as waitress for a little while. Until mom found out."

"You did?" Derek laughed, surprised with the new information about his wife. "Were they tipping you well?"

"Hmm. I couldn't complain."

"Then I am going to tip you even better," Derek grinned at her while he looked through the pocket of his jacket. He took out a rectangular box and put it on the table in front of her.

Meredith looked at the black box. "Derek," she protested. "You don't have to buy me things all the time now."

"I know. Because you can sell the engagement ring after the divorce and you will get enough money out of it," he laughed. "Open this one."

Meredith opened and revealed a thin white gold necklace.

"For the ring," Derek answered.

"It's beautiful," Meredith smiled gratefully.

While Derek took the necklace out of the box, Meredith took the ring off her finger. Derek slid it on the necklace and then stood up and walked around the table to help her put it on her neck.

When he rested his hand on her shoulder, she held it and smiled up at him. Derek leaned down, cupping her cheek and kissing her softly. There was something in their kiss and in their eyes as they looked at each other that made their relationship prettier than every other relationship they had had before they met.

----------

**N/A:** For the next chapters I will skip some time in the storyline; probably around Christmas time with a small wedding party for their families. Now I am not sure how long it will take me for the next chapter, because I don't have a certain plan for it. I accept suggestions.

Thank you for reading and for your support so far.


	41. Say Thanks to Santa I

**Chapter 41 – Say thanks to Santa (I)**

Meredith had butterflies in her stomach. How often happened that to her? Not so many times- excepting the indigestion. This morning, as she lay on the filthy bench of the locker room, Meredith couldn't get her stomach calm down. She had no indigestion as she hadn't eaten much for the last 48 hours; being on call was part of the reason and also the wedding party preparations.

Wedding. She could not get that word out of her head. She knew it wasn't a real wedding. She was married already, but yet she felt like she was getting married for the first time. Besides the wedding, there were Derek's sisters; all 4 of them expected to land this morning to Seattle.

Big day. Her biggest and longest day.

It was still dark outside, but she could still hear the blizzard blowing outside and the snow falling. She watched blindly the snow, blocking all her thoughts out. She stirred when she heard the door opening and stood up, expecting interns coming to get ready for the day. Instead of an intern, Doc hurried inside held by Derek with his leash.

"Why didn't you get yourself a bed?" Derek asked and flicked the lights on.

"Why are you walking the dog through the hospital?" she answered with a question. She bent over to pet Doc.

Derek sighed and took a seat beside Meredith on the bench. "Isn't this supposed to be our day? Why are we organizing everything? It's 5 in the morning and mom and Adele called me to come and pick up the dog, do something with it and then take the food they prepared over to your parents' house."

"Let's do it our way," Meredith suggested eagerly.

"Do you mean running?" he chuckled.

Meredith shrugged as she kept petting Doc. "I don't see myself going through a ceremony with minister and vows and sisters."

"Oh so the problem are the sisters," Derek nodded understandingly. "Meredith, my sisters are nice."

"Not just them," Meredith muttered. "I am sleepy too."

Derek pulled her into his arms and her head rested on his shoulder. "Why didn't you sleep? I told Bailey to take it easy on you because you have a wedding to attend." Meredith smiled at him apologetically. "I have an idea," Derek chuckled and stood up. "Come with me."

"I need to change the clothes," she said.

"Ok," Derek and Doc sat back down. He made himself comfortable on the bench, leaning against the lockers and waited.

Meredith lifted a brow as she saw him watching her.

"Meredith, I know you body better than you do," Derek chuckled.

"It's not that," Meredith giggled. "And so untrue, by the way. I just have the wedding dress in here."

Derek was suddenly even more interested. "You do? Where? How tiny is it if it fits in your locker?" he grinned at her lustily.

Meredith turned her back on him, trying to ignore him while she took her scrubbing top off. Silently, Derek stood up and walked up behind her, wrapping her into his arms and propping her against the locker.

"Now, that's what I call a good morning," he moaned, nuzzling against her neck. His lips started tracing the curve line of her neck and kissed her jaw.

Meredith leaned against him, enchanted with his embrace and his kisses. "Derek," she moaned and turned around in his arms. "Someone might see us."

"So?" he grinned against her lips. "Are we doing anything immoral?" he asked as he took her leg and lifted it to his hip.

Meredith closed her eyes with a moan of satisfaction. He always knew how to make her lost her senses.

Derek gently cupped her cheek and their lips met, intertwining into a passionate kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him close as they kissed.

They would have gone further, Meredith had no doubt of that, if the door hadn't opened and noisy people walked in.

They hardly had time to pull apart when the a few interns stopped, staring at them.

Derek flashed them a smile and went back to the bench, while Meredith changed her clothes with incredible speed. At first, the hospital staff had gossiped about their relationship and marriage; later, they wondered what was with the news of their upcoming wedding; next, they were going to gossip about the sex they were about to have in the locker room.

Derek and Meredith didn't care about such things anymore. They had grown as couple and even Richard got used catching them making out in hidden corners of the hospital.

Once changed, Meredith walked at the end of the lockers and took her dress from a shelf.

"Done," she told Derek, coming back to him.

"Is it white?" he asked her, curiously watching her wrapped dress.

"I am not telling you," she teased. "You weren't even supposed to see me until the wedding."

"Old crap superstition," he rolled his eyes.

"Maybe, but your mom was very precise about this. You weren't even supposed to be here now, were you?"

"I was worried about you."

"Sure you were," she smiled sarcastically and leaned to him to whisper; "You needed my help to chill out."

Derek chuckled and didn't deny. "Come with me."

"Where?" she asked him as they walked out hand in hand and Derek holding Doc's leash.

---

It was still dark outside when, after 20 minutes of driving, Derek pulled the car on their land.

Meredith stared in awe out the windshield at the two storage house that stood hidden in darkness. "It has walls," she managed to breathe out a few words.

"Yeah. It has all the walls and windows. Unfortunately, we still can't move in. They need do the plumbing, the electricity.

"I want to see the inside," Meredith stated eagerly. "Did you see it?"

Derek nodded as he watched the house. "Yesterday. But now it's dark and as I said, we don't have electricity, so we have to wait."

Derek opened the door and got out of the car. The wind was blowing cold and the snow had stopped. He wrapped his scarf around his neck and buried his face in it as he waited for Meredith to get Doc and join him outside.

"It's big," Meredith noticed, now that she was closer to the house. "Who's going to clean it?"

Derek laughed at her. "It's not that big. Wait until it's filled with furniture and kids," he said and smirked as he mentioned the kids.

Meredith giggled and leaned to him, looking for his warmth. Derek put an arm around, gently rubbing her, protecting her from the cold. "To bad we can't move in right away," she muttered with a sighed.

Derek agreed with her feelings. He rubbed his cheek against her forehead and directed her to the spot where their old house was hidden.

Meredith smiled as she guessed their trailer.

"Let's go in," said Derek and started walking together, led by Doc, who was already familiar with the place.

The trailer was placed under a big tree, so it was even more sunk in darkness than the house. They walked in easily as they knew the inside of it like their own pockets. Derek looked for a lamp he knew he had around and soon, a very dim light was brought into their old bedroom. He sat the lamp on a table aside and came to sit beside Meredith. She leaned to him immediately, looking for his embrace again.

Derek held her into his arms, together enjoying each other's embrace and scent.

"I think we still have a set of linens and a blanket here," Derek stated quietly, standing up from the bed.

Then he noticed Doc laying by the door with his nose stuck to it. "What's with this dog?" Derek asked as since they arrived there, Doc kept sniffing the place all around.

"I don't know," Meredith answered, not really interested.

Derek opened the door as he thought that maybe the dog needed outside. Doc ran outside indeed but just to keep sniffing. That's when Derek saw the snow that had started again.

"Come and see this!" he called Meredith.

Meredith got off the bed and wrapped her arms around her as she got closer to the door and felt the cold. "It's snowing," she noticed and a smile showed up on her face as she watched the beautiful landscape.

"Big flakes," Derek nodded.

"What is he doing? What is he looking for?" Meredith asked Derek, noticing Doc with his nose in the snow.

"Maybe he's waiting for Santa," Derek chuckled.

"Make him wait inside, because we don't have heat in here anyway," Meredith grumbled and walked back in the bedroom.

"Doc! Come here, boy!" Derek called the dog and he answered right away.

Derek looked through a closet and found indeed a set of linens and a blanket. Meredith helped him with the sheets and, while Derek spread the blanket over the bed, she started taking her clothes here.

"We don't have pillows though."

Meredith shrugged and started shivering. "Who cares about the pillows? Get in bed, I am freezing."

Derek chuckled and hurried stripping his clothes off. "Ugh! This is cold," he winced as they got in bed together. But they had each other's body to heat up.

Derek pulled Meredith into his arms and all they needed to do for heating up was kiss and make love to each other. The cold, the snow and the wind outside were soon forgotten.

---

Through her closed lids, Meredith felt a blinding light. Slowly she started coming out of her sleeping state and opened her eyes with difficulty. The light inside their trailer was blinding indeed.

As she had slept with her head on Derek's arm, Meredith saw his watch. It was well passed 12 o'clock.

"Derek?" she stood up and shook him slowly, confused looking around.

"Mmm?" he moaned, rolling to her.

"What with this light?"

"What light?" Derek muttered sleepily.

"It's too much light in here," Meredith answered. "Everything is white. And it's passed 12. And at 2 starts the ceremony."

"We still have time to get to your parents' house," he muttered and pulled Meredith down to him. "Now get back here and keep me warm." He shifted closer to her, pressing his body against hers. Derek let out a moan of satisfaction and sigh, "Now this is life."

Meredith giggled, spoiling herself with his laziness. "How about the food you had to deliver?"

"It's cold outside, it won't debase."

Meredith rolled into his arms to face him and smiled as she ran her fingers over his unshaved beard. "Sometimes I like it."

"What?"

"Your beard," she answered. "I think that's what defines your look."

Derek opened one eye to look at her. "Really? I thought it was my hair."

Meredith giggled. She pushed him by his shoulder, flipping him onto his back, and she got on top of him. Derek was wide awake now. Meredith looked into his eyes while they smiled at each other.

"What is it?" he asked her when he was sure she had something on her mind.

"You're not that good looking, you know?" Meredith narrowed her eyes.

"Excuse me?" Derek laughed.

"Yes. You're not. But all your … ugly features… everything together makes you charming."

Derek looked at her, not believing what he was hearing. She looked like she believed in what she was saying though. "Really? Am I ugly?"

"No," Meredith laughed. "I said you had ugly features, but you look charming."

Derek looked, confused. "Thanks. I guess."

Meredith brushed her lips against his, giggling. "I hope our kids will look like me."

"Now you're just mocking me!" Derek laughed and flipped her onto her back, rolling on top of her. "And you're so skinny."

"I am. I admit it," she smiled.

"I don't admit anything about me," he frowned.

Meredith just smiled and shrugged.

"See what happens if you get drunk and get married. You get yourself an ugly husband," Derek chuckled.

Meredith faked a sigh of resignation and then started laughing. "I don't mind."

"I know."

"And you're not that ugly."

Derek lifted a brow. "You can do better than this."

Meredith giggled and answered, "You're not ugly."

"I know," he answered with a smirk.

"I know you know," she giggled.

Derek made himself comfortable on top of her, propping his arms beside her, and his lips started defining her beautiful features.

"Why don't we leave this for our honeymoon?" she asked, slowly pushing him away.

Derek looked at her with confusion. "Since when are you rejecting my sex hints?"

"You know I never dare to reject you, but we're getting late," Meredith pointed out.

Derek sighed, not very happy with what was going on, but got off her. "And since when are you so eager to get to the wedding?"

"Since everyone considers me the irresponsible one in this relationship."

"No one those that."

Meredith gave him a knowing look. She sighed as she realized that they were about to have a fight. "Let's just get over this day. Ok?"

"Ok," he smiled. "But we don't have to wait the honeymoon to have sex again, do we? I mean, the honeymoon is next year."

"It's next week actually," Meredith giggled. "And no, we don't have to wait until then. There's a wedding night too, remember?"

Derek chuckled smugly. "Oh yeah. Our second wedding night. How great are we?"

Meredith just laughed. They got dressed and Derek went to open the door. As he did that, he found it blocked by something.

"What's going on?" Meredith asked him.

"I am not sure," he answered and pushed the door a little harder. A blinding white landscape revealed in front of their eyes in that moment.

Everything was covered by snow. The SUV had its wheels entirely sunk in the snow; the road was no longer visible and it kept snowing. Not as bad as in the morning, but they knew what that meant.

Derek looked at Meredith and the next second he hurried to his jacket to take his phone. The signal was gone.

"This is not good," Meredith concluded quietly.

"I am going outside to see if I can catch a little signal," he stated and walked outside, almost falling in the deep snow.

Doc followed him, but he wasn't that worried as his master. Contrary, he was happy to swim in the snow, puddle it and play in it.

Derek walked to the place he knew the road was and was relieved to see that the signal was back to his phone; weak, but still there. From the second the signal got in, messages started beeping his phone. Of course they had everyone worried. He deleted everything and dialed the first familiar number he had in his phone.

That was Adele's number.

"Derek!" her panicked voice answered before the phone could start ringing. "Derek, where are you? Are you alright? Is Meredith with you?"

"Yes, Meredith is with me and we're alright," he hurried to calm her down.

"Where are you? You were both supposed to be here by now."

"We're… we're at the trailer and… it's a lot of snow, Adele."

"Of course it is!" Adele snapped at him now. Now that she knew they were safe, she had the right to be angry. "Why in the world you stayed there when you saw the way it was snowing?"

"Adele," Derek sighed.

"Do not Adele me! And be grateful that your mom or Meredith's parents are not in the room," she warned him, lowering her voice. "The minister can't stay long because he has to get ready for the Christmas ceremony and most of the roads are still blocked because of the snow. Do you know what they're showing on TV?"

"Umm… I guess you don't know that we don't have electricity here."

"It's not the proper moment to be sarcastic, Derek. What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know," he sighed. "The road is covered with snow and I don't know if I can get with the car through it."

"Then grab a spade and start digging." Then Derek heard her sighing and after a moment of silence she said, "What am I doing? I guess is safer for you to stay there until they free the roads. You still have the food you were supposed to bring here, I hope."

"It's untouched."

"Good, because if it starts snowing again, you will need it. You have the dog?"

"Yes. I stopped by the hospital to see Meredith and she was tired, so I brought her here. We bought fell asleep. Is everyone there already? I mean, Nancy and…"

"Yes. Everyone landed before the storm," Adele answered. "They're all here. Your friends Naomi and Sam arrived also. At least they're all here for Christmas, so get here when you can. Just drive safely, ok?"

"Ok."

"I am going to announce everyone that you and Meredith are safe."

"Thanks and we'll keep in touch."

Derek hung up and ran his hands through his hair as he watched the road. Luckily, he had chosen to take the SUV that morning. Maybe he could get it started and drive slowly on snow. "Maybe they cleaned the main road," he said when Meredith came at his side.

Meredith took his hand and put her head on his shoulder. "Maybe if we ask Doc to puddle the road… Look what a great job he's doing with the yard," she giggled and both looked at Doc's fun in the snow.

"Say thanks to Santa for that," Derek laughed at the dog. "And you too," he told Meredith.

"It's not what I asked Santa for," Meredith huffed.

Derek pulled her into his arms. "Adele's right. At least everyone is together for Christmas. We'll get there by tomorrow. Before Santa, that's for sure. Do you want to see the house on the inside?" he asked Meredith.

"Derek, we're stuck here. Shouldn't we find a way to leave this place?"

"We have food. Doc is with us. We have each other." He stopped as he saw Meredith's look. "Ok. We'll see what we can do to get to the wedding."

"I know we're married already," Meredith wanted to explain. "But … we need this wedding party with its so called wedding ceremony to have all the family see us as married couple. Mom still thinks we're fooling around, playing as married couple. Your mom's opinion is not better either."

"Ok, I will grab the spade."

"And I will help."

"I have only one spade. I don't carry too many of this in the truck," he chuckled.

"And I will encourage you and wipe the sweat off your forehead."

"Now that's a thoughtful wife."

Meredith laughed and went together to his car. She took a little from the food for the wedding as she and Derek, and Doc too, needed something to eat before anything else.


	42. Say Thanks to Santa II

**Chapter 42 – Say Thanks to Santa (II)**

Wherever they looked was white. Their SUV was slowly advancing, but they were grateful for not fighting against the snow.

"We were supposed to be there at this hour," Meredith noticed as she checked her watch. She let out a sigh and added, "I guess we'll have to re-schedule our wedding."

Derek approved with a nod. "We'll re-schedule it for our 25th anniversary."

Meredith looked at him, almost convinced that he was speaking sarcastically; but as Derek glanced at her with a genuine smile, confirmed to her that he was speaking seriously.

"It's a wedding party after all," said Derek and looked through the rearview mirrors for more caution to the road. Then he looked at Meredith, "I wanted this ceremony to happen, but it's not a tragedy that we're not going to have it. We can have our own ceremony without a minister if we want."

"Your mom is going to…"

"Do nothing," he didn't let her finish. "Stop worrying about my mom. I have this feeling that you hold some aversion against her," he stated and Meredith heard the reproach in his voice also. "Allow me to remember how your mother reacted when she found out the news."

"Ok, ok," Meredith retorted defensively.

Derek felt tension building between them and he didn't like it. It didn't matter how the day had started, he still wanted it to be special; besides the scheduled event, it was also Christmas Eve. He took a deep breath and let his own frustration out. "I think I understand now why people don't like mothers-in-law."

"I think I understand them too," Meredith nodded and smiled at each other.

"My mom might taunt over this a little bit, but she's not a rude person. She won't say anything inappropriate. And your mom looks like she got used to the situation."

"Derek?" Meredith turned to him with a thoughtful frown. "We should try and have kids by the book. We have to something by the book in this marriage. I mean, it's weird enough already."

Derek chuckled. "You just let me know and I will help you have a baby by the book. I will respect each letter."

Meredith smiled, obviously liking the idea. "Promise?"

"I swear," he answered solemnly and raised his hand.

"Good," she sighed with relief. "Then we will have another fun, because we have the mothers-in-law."

"There's a solution to their critics, you know. It not very mature, but it's better than nothing," Derek pointed out with amusement. "We can cover our ears."

Meredith started laughing, "I am not sure about that. I tried that once when I was little and my mom shook me firmly; I felt an earthquake all day long."

Despite her laughing, Derek could not believe what he was hearing.

"She didn't beat me or anything," Meredith stated, more serious now as she saw the look on Derek's face. "It was pretty shaking though. I am sure you weren't raised all in kisses and hugs."

"My dad made sure of that, but I am not complaining," he answered. "I was a decent kid. There's this thing I don't like about your family." Meredith looked at him questioningly. "Where was your dad? And where is he now?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're always worried about what your mom will say. She was shaking you when you weren't listening to her, she was also the one grounding you. Your dad didn't have a word in your education?"

Meredith thought about Derek's question and now that he was asking that, she realized, "No. Not really. My mom took all the important decision in my education. She has the last word no matter what is about."

"I am grateful that you're more like your father. I guess. I think you took a little from both of them and that's… hopeful for me."

"You wouldn't like under my slipper, would you?" Meredith laughed.

"No. Though you're very light and it can get very hot when you become bossy, I still like to have a word or two to say."

"You can have as many words as you want," Meredith reassured him. "It doesn't mean that I have to listen," she added jokingly.

"I noticed that," Derek nodded knowingly and looked at her with a smile. "You like picking up fights out of nothing. That's ok with me, because I like the making-ups."

Silence fell over them, which felt calmer this time. Meredith shifted in her seat and looked in the back where Doc was sleeping carelessly. Meredith sighed; how she would have liked to be Doc now instead of a late bride to her own wedding; Doc also didn't care about the mothers-in-law. Just then Derek's phone started ringing.

He fumbled through the pocket of his jacket and gave it to Meredith as he had to pay attention to the road. Meredith felt a little relieved to see it was Adele calling. She flipped the phone open and switched it on speaker.

"Hi, Adele,"

"Meredith. Where are you? How is it going?" Adele asked, much calmer now.

"We're moving; slowly, but we're moving. How… How's everyone there?"

"They are… waiting," Adele tried to joke. "The minister left though. He couldn't wait for you any longer. They're showing on TV that they have started cleaning the streets already. How is it where you are?"

"Still covered with snow," Derek cut in. "But we're not far from civilization," he added with a chuckle and Meredith rolled her eyes at him.

"Ok. Now don't get depressed or anything. We still have Christmas Eve to celebrate and a huge cake to eat."

"That's exactly what I was telling Meredith," Derek chuckled, smiling smugly at Meredith.

At Derek's lack of worry toward the present events, Meredith started feeling better as well.

"We'll keep it in touch with you," Meredith told Adele and she hung up. Meredith took a deep breath and relaxed in her seat. "Everything is going to be ok, right?" she asked, looking over at Derek.

"Right," he reassured her. "We weren't too great kids this year, so I can't assure you of what Santa might drop under the Christmas tree."

"Oh we surely weren't the best kids," Meredith laughed. "I am not sure he appreciates Vegas weddings. Maybe Mrs. Santa Claus might find it a little bit … romantic. Do you think it's romantic?" she put the question suddenly, changing the subject.

"Our Vegas wedding?" Derek laughed. "I am not sure, but our bonding in the claiming office could pass as romantic. I think it's romantic."

"Huh," Meredith chuckled to herself.

"What?"

"It is something romantic," she nodded. "Who would have thought? And please, do not answer 'I thought'."

Derek just grinned at her. "I didn't think. I believed."

Meredith shook her head, muttering. "You're so full of yourself."

"Hey, that's called confidence. You might like trying some too from time to time."

"If I hadn't tried it, we wouldn't still be married today."

Derek looked for her hand and intertwined their fingers, bringing her hand to his lips. "Christmas will pass and we'll go back to normality."

"Can't wait," Meredith sighed.

**-----**

By the time Meredith and Derek arrived at Meredith's parents' house, the clouds started sifting snowflakes again. Both of them took deep breaths; not even Derek was showing much confidence over what was going to come now, but he decided to stay brave. He knew how hard would be on Meredith if their mothers start criticizing. He leaned over to Meredith and dropped a soft, comforting kiss on her cheek. "Let's go."

Meredith nodded and took one more deep breath before she opened the door to the car. Derek walked around the car and came over at her side. He stopped briefly one step away from her, admiring her. She had her jacket unzipped allowing a good view to her wedding dress. It was white, falling flawlessly down her body, with a corset that hugged beautifully her tiny frame and her breasts.

"You look beautiful," he stated.

Meredith looked up at him, smiling. "You look neat too."

Derek smirked as he neat the jacket to his tuxedo. "Let's get inside before we freeze. Mrs. Shepherd."

Meredith giggled and hung on his arm, starting heading together to the house, but they had to stop as they had forgotten something important on the backseats of their car. From inside, Doc was barking, asking to be taken inside as well.

"I got him," Derek laughed and went to release the dog. He knew Ellis and some of his sisters weren't big fans of the pets, so he had to put Doc the leash. As he and Meredith started heading to the house again, the door opened and Derek's mother stormed outside.

"Thank God you're finally here," she held her face between her hands and looked worried. Ella's worry gave Meredith a little hope. She knew her mother wasn't as worried as Derek's mother, but she still hoped that she would leave the reproaches aside.

"We made it. They started cleaning the streets already," Derek gave his mother a hug.

"Uncle Derek!" a little girl squealed from the door and only her mother's firm hand held her back not to run outside in the cold. "You have a dog!" she squealed and started jumping excitedly beside her mother. "He has a puppy, mommy!"

Derek gave Meredith Doc's leash and hurried ahead to the girl. "Come here, Jen." He scooped her up, causing her to laugh harder. "Look at your pretty dress."

"It's for the wedding," she beamed excitedly.

Meredith watched, pleasantly surprised, the scene between Derek and little Jen. Just then she realized that she hadn't seen Derek around children and she was impressed now. Derek seemed to love his niece and the kids seemed to like him as well.

Ella put an arm around Meredith, warming her back and walked her into the house.

"Meredith," Thatcher smiled sympathetically and came to greet his daughter.

"We're fine," she reassured him.

He cupped her face and smiled and kindly. "You two messed the things up again, but at least you got here safe."

Meredith discreetly glanced around her, trying to spot her mom. "Where's mom?" she asked him quietly.

Thatcher let out a sigh, proving Meredith that her mother wasn't happy about all these indeed. "She's somewhere around here. She doesn't want to say anything."

Meredith let out a sigh. Now she wasn't sure she wanted to have her mother's ignore and secretly reproaching. "I am sorry."

"I know," his father encouraged her. "What are you going to do now?"

"That's a good question," Ella pointed out and came to them with a questioning look for Meredith.

Meredith was caught off guard with this question. She took a small step back, shrugging, and looked over at Derek. Unfortunately, Derek was greeting all his nieces and nephews. Doc started fighting with the leash, asking to be released. Meredith didn't care and just dropped his leash, letting him run to Derek and the kids.

"You two need to take some time alone and reconsider all your actions," Ella said when Meredith didn't look like she could give an answer. "I tried to be supportive, but Ellis is right. You show irresponsibility too often and this cannot make a marriage work."

Meredith swallowed a lump. How silly of her to think that she would meet only worry and encouragement once they got home. "What…" she cleared her throat. "What are you saying?"

Ellis showed up in the room then, answering, "She's saying that you two are not ready for a marriage. You didn't even make it to your own wedding…"

"It's just our wedding party," Meredith didn't let her finish.

"But you knew how important this was for all of us," Ellis continued. "You think marriage is just about the sex? You shouldn't wait for a baby to come to find out what marriage means, because you wouldn't want to do this to it."

"Oh," Meredith laughed bitterly. "That you would know better." She couldn't take more of their opinions and critics, so she turned around and stormed outside in the cold.

She stopped in the middle of the yard and started panting.

"I got it," Derek told Lexie and Cristina, who wanted to go after their friend.

Derek hurried to Meredith's side and wanted to pull her into his arms, but Meredith shoved him away.

"You go back and play with the kids," she reproached. "I am the one who came with the idea of visiting the house and have some sex in the trailer."

"Meredith," Derek pled.

"Leave me alone, Derek," she muttered between sobs.

As Meredith looked like she was about to cry, Derek didn't give up. He walked up in front of her and pulled her into his arms, this time without any resistance from her side. "I am sorry," he spoke softly to her, gently rubbing her back as she started crying. "I am sorry," he repeated quietly.

He held her well-wrapped into his arms, resting his cheek against her head and comforting her, allowing her to cry everything out. Just when her sobs started calming, Derek pulled back a little and took her face between his hands.

"Can we leave?" she asked him.

"No," he answered and smiled comfortingly. "Because we don't want to prove them they are right. They aren't right anyway, but still. We're going to stay and face them together. Like a married couple."

"Derek? What if they're right?"

"Do you think they are?" he asked her back.

Meredith considered her answer briefly and shook her head. "No."

"Me neither," he answered, satisfied with the answer. "We're going back inside and we're going to end this… wedding ceremony."

"Vows?" Meredith asked, almost horrified.

"You don't want to?"

"I… I don't know. I don't feel comfortable baring my soul in front of so many peoples. Most of them are strangers to me."

"Ok," Derek chuckled. "Then… we're going to have our vows said right here, just between us two."

"Ok," Meredith smiled, still not convinced.

"Do you want me to go first?" he asked as he read the shyness in her smile.

"Yes," she giggled.

"Alright," he held an arm around her waist, holding her close to him, and stroked her cheek with his free hand. "Ok…" he took a deep breath, gaining more time for his thoughts. Apparently, he didn't seem to have to right words either. "Meredith, I love Vegas," he finally stated.

Meredith looked at him and started to laugh. "Thank you."

"That's not all," he laughed too. "I love Vegas for holding so many great memories for us. Because despite the bad hangover, we had a blast there. We also won $200.000. And I love you for… accepting to try this and for the way we handled the whole last 8 months. We're close to our 1st anniversary and I love you more than I ever thought I could love someone. I can't even sleep at home when you're on call; because Doc jumps in bed on your side, of course."

Meredith laughed.

"I am sure we can face anything from now on, because we've faced all the things behind us; all the fights, stupid or serious and the parents' crisis." He cupped her cheeks and leaned down for a soft kiss.

Meredith wrapped her arms around his neck. It was one of the moments when she felt their love overwhelming, in a good way. "You just made that up. You didn't write any vow."

"I spoke from my soul," he admitted.

"I guess it's my turn now," she sighed.

Derek nodded, looking forward to what she had to say. He knew she wasn't good at this. "Don't be shy. I know my vow wasn't the best, but I told you what I really felt."

"Yes…" she sighed. "It's just that… you kind of said everything. I mean… I could have said that too."

Derek chuckled and pulled her into a hug. "That's ok. You don't have to say anything."

"I have to," Meredith insisted.

"Ok." He pulled back a little to be able to look at her.

Meredith looked into his eyes and tried to find at least one word to say; but everything was too overwhelming indeed and no word seemed to be good enough for a vow. "I love you," she spoke softly. "And I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Derek leaned in and kissed her. "Yours was better than mine."

"Sometimes I can be better than you," she giggled and playfully elbowed him.

Derek held her head between his hands and traced kisses along her face until their lips met. This was one of their special kisses; it wasn't a kiss asking for sex; it was a kiss asking for more love.

"You look beautiful," he whispered in her ear. "Did I tell you that?"

Meredith giggled sheepishly. "You did."

"Am I flattering you too much?"

"Just a little," she giggled.

"Ok, then I will stop," Derek laughed. He ran his finger across her necklace and took her engagement ring in his fingers. Their wedding and marriage were as in the book now. "Let's go inside."

Meredith nodded with sigh.

Derek wrapped her arm around his and smiled at her. "Don't worry. We talked about this already. We cover our ears."

"I wouldn't try, but ok," she laughed.

As they turned together to the house, they saw Izzie and Lexie quickly turning their backs to the window.

"We also had witnesses. It was a perfect wedding ceremony," Derek chuckled.

Stepping inside, everyone became quiet. Derek helped Meredith take off her jacket and took her hand back. Only little Jen ran to them, stopping in front of Meredith. "You're my auntie?" she asked her.

Meredith laughed at the girl's cuteness. "I am."

"You're pretty. I like you."

Meredith smiled at Derek, melted by the girl's words. "You're pretty too."

"What's your name?"

"Meredith"

The girl took a step back as she opened the mouth to repeat the name and she couldn't. She looked questioningly to her uncle.

"You can just call her auntie," he told her.

Jen nodded her head and stepped aside. As Derek and Meredith started walking again, Jen quickly hang on Meredith's hand. "I like your dress," she stated innocently, now closely looking at Meredith's white dress.

Meredith looked at Derek. "You taught her to say that."

"No, I didn't," Derek laughed. "She's just too cute."

"She is," Meredith admitted too.

"Jen, why don't you go and sit somewhere, because your auntie and I have something to do," Derek told the little girl.

She nodded and let go of Meredith's hand, running to go and catch a seat in a chair.

Derek walked Meredith to the fireplace, from where they could see everyone. He looked at her and smiled before he turned to the people gathered there.

"First of all, we want to apologize for running late to our own wedding party. We're both doctors and some of you know how sleep can be tricky in our days off. Then we'd like to thank you for coming. We wanted this party, so our families could meet. I wanted my family and friends to meet Meredith," he smiled at her and his hand slipped around her waist. "I am also looking forward to meeting the rest of her family. You must be Lexie's mom," he said looking at the woman standing beside Thatcher. "Susan."

"That's right," she nodded with a smile.

"I know what some of you already think of all these," Derek went on. "For the rest of you who doesn't know what to think yet, we'd like you to see us as a newlywed couple. We don't have much left of our newlywed level though. I hope at least some of you can see us as we are; a married couple. If neither of you want that then… we don't really care, because…" he looked at Meredith as he went on. "We know what we are together." He gave a squeeze to her hand and added as they looked into each other's eyes. "We're soul mates."

Derek leaned to her ear and asked in whisper, "Should I stop now?"

"Definitely," she giggled. "This was much better than his vow," she said to the crowd.

Lexie's sniffle drew everyone's attention on her. Mark was standing right behind her and everyone could see he was discreetly comforting her.

"Throw the bouquet!" Izzie beamed.

"I…" Meredith looked around her confused. "I don't have one."

"Right," Izzie nodded. "Because we brought it. Just a second," she made them a sign to stay where they were and she ran out of the room. She returned in a few seconds with Meredith's bouquet of red roses.

"You chose this one?" Meredith asked Izzie.

"Shut up about it," Izzie retorted with a sarcastic grin. "You should have chosen it yourself." Then she hurried back to her previous spot. "Who's not a single lady, please step aside."

"Does this mean I have to take off your garter?" Derek whispered to Meredith. "Please tell me you have one."

"I do," Meredith laughed.

"Good. Exciting then."

"Come on, Meredith! We're ready."

Meredith nodded and turned with her back to the crowd. She never liked the suspense caused by the counting, so she threw it just as she had her back to them. She turned to see where it had landed.

Lexie was the one holding it.

"He's slowly dying inside," Derek laughed as he wrapped his arms around Meredith.

"Do you think he'd like to become your brother-in-law?"

"I choose not to answer this question."

Meredith looked back at him. "He'd better be serious to her."

"He is serious to her," Derek reassured. "I just don't know how big his plans are."

Meredith shook her head with disappointment. "Maybe you should dig in and find out. She caught the bouquet and I know Lexie."

Derek gave her one of his genuine smiles and avoided the answer. "Can I take your garter off now?"

Meredith giggled, playfully elbowing him. "I don't think it's really necessary."

"What? Why? You throw the bouquet."

"But I think Mark's the only bachelor present here. I could give it to him myself," she answered and added jokingly. "To make sure he catches it."

Derek chuckled. "Still," he insisted.

"Derek," Meredith whimpered.

"What?"

"Ugh," Meredith groaned and turned to him, whispering. "I don't feel comfortable with all these people witnessing."

"Mer, I am taking the garter off only. Everything else stays at its place."

"Just like your hands," she replied, smiling.

Derek stared at her for a moment with a knowing smile. "Hey!" he called for everyone's attention.

"Would anyone mind if I proceed with the throwing of the garter?"

A few chuckles spread through the males, while the women just laughed.

"We wouldn't mind," one of Derek's friends answered.

Derek's little sister, Ashley, raised her hand and pointed out a fact already pointed by Meredith to Derek, "Mark's the only bachelor here. I don't really see the point."

"See?" Meredith burst out.

"This is the tradition," Derek said in his defense.

"Wait!" Mark stepped in the front. He chuckled and looked at the single ladies around him. "Am I the only bachelor for these ladies?"

Lexie and Cristina glared him fiercely.

"Come here," Derek took Meredith's hand and pulled her after him to the closest chair.

"Derek," Meredith whimpered. "It's embarrassing."

Derek looked at the guests again. "Please do not 'woo' or whistle."

"And you can turn around," Meredith added.

"What's the point then?" Derek frowned.

"I am not stripping for your friends and family," she replied.

Derek just nodded. He took Meredith's leg and put it on the chair. "You will feel no pain."

Meredith took a deep breath and waited for that embarrassing moment to be over. Derek's hands sneaked under her dress and easily found the garter. He grabbed it gently with just a few fingers, caressing her leg with the others as he pulled the garter down. It wasn't painful, but the chills weren't soothing either as they traveled up to her body.

Derek finally brought the garter down to her ankle and, holding gently on it, slid the garter off her leg. He waved it smugly under the men's cheers and Meredith's rolling eyes.

"Mark, pay attention," Derek chuckled.

"Like I could miss this," he smirked.

Derek turned around and threw the garter over his shoulder, to the place he knew Mark was. Surprisingly, Mark didn't catch it. It had landed in Cristina's hands instead.

Derek chuckled as he turned and saw that.

"Seriously, Derek!" Mark protested.

"What? You moved."

"I didn't move. You threw it like a girl. To a girl!"

"Ok, enough!" Cristina threw the garter in Mark's hands. "You're not capable of such simple thing."

"That was…" Mark wanted to protest, but Ella cut in.

"Enough."

"Yes! I want cake," a little boy frowned, bored by the whole grown-up scene.

"Me too! Me too!" Jen started jumping up and down.

She looked at her uncle and her new auntie and came running to them. She took Meredith's hand and cheerfully asked her. "Is it your cake?"

"Uh… yes," Meredith smiled.

"Can I have some?"

"Of course. You'll get the biggest slice."

Derek cleared his throat, amused. "I don't think that's the right thing to say to a child."

"She's stressed, Derek. Besides, she won't measure or weigh it."

"Lying to the children is even worse."

"Derek," Meredith sighed. "Shut up. Now."

Derek chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist while he led Meredith and Jen to the cake. Spirits were much calmer now and as the cake was cut and champagne started to pour, there wasn't a single sad or depressed person in the room.

Even Ellis seemed to have a good time with Adele and Richard Webber, Derek noticed.

"Derek!"

"Sam!" Derek laughed and pulled his friend into a hug. "It's so good to see you."

"Tell me about it," Sam laughed. "Since you started marrying with girls in Vegas, we barely hear a word from you."

"I know," Derek admitted as he pulled back from the hug. Beside Sam was standing other good friend of his, also Sam's wife. "Naomi," Derek pulled her into a hug as well.

"Odd circumstances to see you again, Derek," she chuckled, patting friendly on his back.

"You got yourself a Meredith, huh?" Sam asked cheerfully. "Not bad."

Derek grinned proudly. "Have you met her yet?" he asked his friends while he looked around for Meredith.

"Not yet, but don't worry. There's plenty of time," Sam assured him. As Derek couldn't take his eyes away from Meredith, who was surrounded by the youngest grandchildren of Mrs. Shepherd, Sam added knowingly. "And you're head over hills about her."

Derek looked at his friend and his bright smile confirmed it.

"Who would have thought?" Sam chuckled.

Derek nodded approvingly. "I lost the count of the people that asked themselves that."

"Who would have thought that we would come to your wedding and the bride wouldn't be Addison," Naomi cut in.

Derek just smiled. "This is different."

"That's obvious." Sam agreed and hurried to add as Derek shot him a glare. "By all meanings."

Derek gripped on his friend's shoulder and let out a sigh of content. "Come and meet Meredith."

Despite all their worries, the wedding party felt like a party indeed. People chatted and friends and families got to know each other a little better. Meredith had just a little bit interaction with Derek's sister, but she surely got to know all his nieces and nephews.

"Any plan for the honeymoon?" Lexie asked Derek and Meredith as they stood aside together with Cristina, Mark, Sam and Naomi.

"Or you had one already?" Sam asked Derek.

"We didn't have one, but we're planning one," Derek answered. "We're thinking about Venice."

"Venice?" Naomi asked curiously.

"Yes," Derek chuckled knowingly along with Lexie and Meredith. "Meredith and I have a thing for gondolas."

"In this case, I think I suspect what is about," Naomi nodded.

Their attention was distracted by the quiet quarrel between Adele and Richard.

"Richard, I said no," Adele argued with her husband. "You can't do this to them."

"This is my job, Adele."

"What's going on?" Ellis cut in.

Richard was going to answer, but Adele slapped him to stay quiet. Richard stepped away from his wife and turned to the group of friends. "The snow has made its first victims and they're short in stuff at the hospital."

"We should go then," Cristina suggested and the rest of her fellows seemed to agree.

"Except for you two," Adele looked at Derek and Meredith.

"Adele," Richard argued. "Meredith, you can stay, but I need my head of neuro there."

"I don't want to miss a good surgery," Meredith admitted apologetically, earning a few disapproving looks from some members of the family.

"But this is your wedding party," Adele tried to convince her.

"Without a husband?" Meredith asked back.

Adele sighed with disappointment. "You're all surgery junkies."

"We should leave then before it snows too much," Richard decided.

Derek walked up to his mother and gave her a hug. "We'll be back as soon as we're done there."

"Ok," Ella smiled but also visibly disappointed with the turn of the evening.

---

It was a little past midnight when Meredith went down in the basement in the search of a quiet place. She started a little as she came to the gurneys her friends and she used to sit on and saw someone's frame laying on one of them.

At her gasp, the body stirred too and sleepily rose from the gurney. "Mer?" Meredith recognized George's sleepy voice.

"Hey," Meredith let out a breath of relief and hopped up beside him on the gurney. "When did you come back from your mother's house?"

George yawned, sleepily rubbing his eyes. "Before you got here. Dr. Bailey paged me. How was the wedding?"

"Wedding party," Meredith corrected him. "It was nice."

"No reason to freak out?"

"Just a little," she answered with a shrug. "We almost didn't make it to the party. We also missed the minister."

"So you canceled everything?"

"No. Derek and I had our own ceremony for our families and friends."

"So you had a good time."

"It was nice," she nodded.

"Congratulations," George smiled kindly.

"Thanks."

"Doesn't it feel like Christmas?"

Meredith looked at her friend, confused. "What do you mean?"

"There's something in the air. Calming."

"Not really. Actually I took the stairs and that place gave me crips. There's something strange in the air."

George stared at her. "Maybe it's Santa."

Meredith looked at him, amused. "You still believe in Santa?"

"No, but I believe in Santa's spirit. I didn't lose any patient this evening."

Now that he pointed that out, Meredith thought better. "I didn't lose any either."

"See? Christmas miracle."

"Maybe, but the stairwell still gives me the crips."

"You can almost hear the jingles."

"I wouldn't go that far," Meredith laughed.

They became quiet as voices seemed to approach. At the end of the hall, they saw Lexie, Izzie and Cristina coming.

"Do you hear the jingles too?" George asked them.

"I don't think I saw him at your party," Cristina grumbled as she hopped up beside Meredith.

"I am talking about the Christmas miracle," said George. "How many patients did you lose on this shift?"

They looked at each other, questioning.

"None," they answered.

"Yet," Izzie added. "I have a critic patient and we have to wait and see how he goes."

"Still," George pointed out. "Christmas miracles."

"Or just Cristina's great surgical skills," Cristina chuckled.

"George's right," Lexie stated. "This is a special night. I think we should all say Thanks to Santa."

"Thank you, Santa," George was the first one to do that, followed soon, a little reluctant, by the others.

"Who are you thanking to?" Derek's chuckle made his presence there noticed.

"Santa," answered Meredith.

"Mmm," he smiled and made himself room between her and George. "What did he bring you?"

"Christmas miracle. And jingles," she answered. Derek looked at her, confused, and Meredith could just shrug.

Once Derek joined them, the silence fell between them, awkwardly.

"What is it?" Derek asked, suddenly not comfortable with the group he was sitting with.

"Nothing," Meredith answered. "It's just that this is the spot where the interns hang out."

Derek looked at her, amused, but as he noticed the stares of the others, he asked more serious. "Really?"

"But I think it's ok if you hang out with us for a while," Meredith smiled.

"We don't mind," Lexie giggled and Izzie approved with a cheerful nod. "Especially this night, after such day."

"You two are awesome," Izzie stated.

"Thank you," Derek laughed and added in a more serious tone then, "You're still not scrubbing in with me. Karev will be my intern."

Izzie just huffed and slid against the wall, down on the floor, grumbling, "Christmas miracles my..."

"Izzie," Lexie scolded her kindly.

Meredith wrapped her hands around Derek's arm and put her head down on his shoulder. "My mom is going to freak out if Doc spends more than a day in her house."

Derek chuckled knowingly and kissed her on the forehead. "I will go get him in the morning. We'll have to join the family for Christmas anyway."

Meredith just nodded sleepily. Just now, in such a quiet and peaceful moment she was aware of the long and full of events day that had just passed and she could feel how tired she was. She closed her eyes and in no time she was snoozing, while her friends and her husband were chatting over the Christmas miracles in the hospital.

The buzz of two pagers awakened her with a stir. As they checked their pagers, Derek and Meredith were called.

"This is our patient," Derek jumped off the gurney and waited for Meredith to trail down as well, running then to answer the emergency.

Fortunately, the emergency wasn't something serious and therefore, they were out of the exam room in record time. It was still too crowded to wait and take the elevators, so Derek took Meredith's hand and led her to the stairwell. Once in its private space, Derek pulled Meredith into his arms. "What do you say if we hog an on-call room. Just for the two us?"

"Just the two of us?" Meredith frowned jokingly. "Damn!"

Derek chuckled and gently stroked her cheek. "Just this time. Please."

"Ok. If you're asking me this nicely."

"I appreciate," he laughed and leaned in for a kiss.

Before their lips could meet, Meredith pulled back suddenly, alerted.

"What is it?" Derek asked her.

Meredith seemed to be listening to something. "Do you hear anything?"

Derek listened too and shook his head.

"I hear as if someone is breathing beside us." She pulled away from Derek's arms and looked around, up and down the stairwell.

"Mer. You're tired. I don't hear anything."

"But I do," Meredith insisted. "I have this feeling that there's someone here. I had the same feeling earlier too." She listened better and then climbed down one flight of stairs.

"Mer?" Derek called after her, but Meredith was already on the next floor.

The light was dim, but she was sure that the breathing sound was coming from there. She looked around, but none was around; until she spotted a ball of blanket moving. She let out a shriek and hung on the handrail, having Derek beside her in a second. Derek didn't have to ask her what was going on; he just followed her horrified gaze and had the same picture before his eyes as she had.

"What's there?" he asked himself, a little braver than Meredith as he took a step toward that blanket.

A low whimper came out of the blanket and Meredith and Derek looked at each other. They had an idea of what was in that blanket by now. Meredith ran ahead and knelt in front of the blanket, slowly opening it. Two little fists wriggled out of the blanket and revealed a baby girl- judging by the pink clothes- which looked too tired to even cry.

Meredith looked up at Derek and read the same shock on his face.

Derek stirred out of the shock and motioned for her to pick the baby up while he took out his stethoscope. Meredith gently lifted the baby and once in her arms, the baby seemed to relax a little and opened her blue eyes and looked blindly at the woman holding her. "She looks anhydrous."

"Who knows when was the last time she ate. Her breathing doesn't sound well either; she might have caught a pneumonia. Let's take her upstairs."

Meredith nodded and lingered for a moment as Derek started climbing the stairs up. "I guess you can say Thanks to Santa too."


	43. Vegas couple no more

**Chapter 43 – Vegas couple no more**

Derek had just put the last files into his briefcase when Mark walked in, cheerfully slamming the door against the wall.

"What's up, Shep?"

Derek rolled his eyes and smiled. "Nothing much, Sloan. By the way, do you have any idea how much effort it took me to obtain this hole as office? Be gentle because I've grown fond of this closet."

"I could always rent you one across the street," Mark answered with a chuckle.

"What do you want anyway?"

Mark huffed, acting offended. "I was going to buy you a drink, but after this attitude I will let you pay it yourself."

"What drink?" Derek asked, amused with his friend's childlike behavior. "Because I am not going out for a drink with you."

Mark was no longer looking amused by now. "What do you mean? Do you have anything better to do than have a drink with your best friend?"

"I do actually," Derek nodded and glanced at him with a crooked smile. "I am going to take my wife and invite her home."

Mark stared at him for a moment and started laughing sarcastically. "Good luck with that."

Derek sighed and rolled his eyes, not liking very much the way he was mocked. "We talked and she's coming to sleep at home tonight."

"Ok," Mark answered with the same sarcasm in his voice. Apparently, he knew better how the situation was standing at the moment with Meredith.

"Seriously, Mark. It's been a week almost since we found this baby. She needs to get detached from it because the social services will come get her as soon as she feels better."

"Hey, I am not your wife, so I understand what you're saying. I do."

"But you don't think she will come home until the baby doesn't leave the hospital."

"I got used to sleeping alone. It's just a matter of time until things will go back to normal. Let's grab a beer at Joe's."

Derek listened to his friend, having an infamous air. "How can you be so careless?"

"What you're saying? That I should be worried?"

"Lexie and Meredith are tied to that baby's crib. And speaking of Lexie? Are you two having a relationship? Are you officially a couple?"

Mark's sarcasm and amusement died off slowly. "We're friends."

"With benefits," Derek added knowingly.

"You're not your mother, Derek. You're just her son."

"Your point?" Derek chuckled.

"My point is…" he paused, looking troubled with the answer. "Are you coming at Joe's?"

"No," Derek answered firmly.

"Fine," Mark answered with the same determination. Despite this, he walked into Derek's office and made himself comfortable in a chair.

Derek sensed that his friend might need a short talk and besides this, Meredith was with the baby, so he was in no hurry. He sat on his desk, right in front of Mark.

"What's up with you?"

Mark gave him a short look and shrugged. "I am just bored. Aren't you homesick?"

"This is my home," Derek pointed out.

"Oh right because you're married to the Seattle girl Meredith."

"Mark," Derek chuckled.

"Why don't you try making her a Manhattan Meredith?"

"Because I like the Seattle Meredith better."

"How is that when you haven't met Manhattan Meredith yet?"

"Mark!" Derek groaned. "What's going on with you?"

"I don't know," Mark his hands through his hair and sighed. "I am homesick, I guess."

"Yeah, well I am … 'wife-sick' so… I should go and… get her home. Maybe you should go back to Manhattan. What are you still doing here? Your thing with Lexie ended after the fake marriage you had in Mexico. You met Meredith, we had a little time to hang out… I think you covered the whole itinerary you had planned."

"Ok. The thing is that…" Mark seemed ready to confess everything, but backed out quickly. "I have a thing for ferryboats."

"Liar," Derek laughed. "The ferryboats are my thing. You need your own thing."

"Yeah," Mark sighed.

"I am not going to practice psychology with you because I am tired and I haven't had sex with my wife for exactly 5 days."

Mark flashed his teeth in a crooked grin. "How often…"

"None of your business," Derek cut him off quickly.

Mark chuckled, a bit cheered up now, and shook his head as he shifted in his seat. "So how long do you think this thing with the baby is going to last?"

"I don't know," Derek sighed. "She was half-frozen when we found her and she… she almost experienced a near-death."

"That's sad," Mark saddened. "Really sad."

"It is," Derek nodded. "She's better now. She's still not breathing on her own and can't eat from the bottle all the time, but Dr. Roberts says she's out of the woods. Probably the social services won't take her for another month."

"Whoa,"

"Yeah, well she's a baby and she wasn't a very lucky one the moment she came out of that woman's womb."

Mark just nodded absent-mindedly.

"Look what," Derek got an idea. "I am going to tell Meredith I am ready go and if she's not ready yet, I will just tell her I am going to wait for her at Joe's. This way we can have a beer together."

"Sounds… exciting. Yeah, for Seattle, a beer a Joe's is exciting."

"Shut up. You've started liking it here."

Mark stood up and turned to the door, stating, "If it weren't for the chicks…"

"Yeah, alright. I will see you at Joe's then."

Derek gathered his things, swung his coat over his shoulder and closed the door to his office as he walked out. It was getting late in the evening and the shifts were changing, so the halls and the elevators were over-crowded. After impatiently waiting for 2 elevators to pass so he could get in one of them, an empty one stopped at his floor. In there, Lexie and another doctor were the only passengers.

"Derek," Lexie, said quickly. "Have you seen Mark?"

"He's heading to Joe's."

"Oh, ok," she ran out of the elevator. "I need to go down then. Good night!" she called in the same hurry as she darted to the stairwell.

"I guess the beer at Joe's got cancelled," Derek concluded under his breath. He stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the Pediatrics floor.

Meredith was where he was expecting to find her. He stopped outside the room and looked through the window as Meredith sat in a rocking chair, slowly swinging, and gave a bottle to the baby girl. Despite the fact that this baby girl was keeping his wife at the hospital all the nights, Derek had to admit that Meredith looked adorable with the baby in her arms and this was a new image for him also; he hadn't had the chance to see the maternal side of Meredith until now. No matter how heartwarming everything was and how sad the baby's story was, Derek was aware of how attached Meredith was getting to the baby, which was a patient after all.

Derek took a deep breath and walked inside quietly. From her blanket, the baby was wriggling out a hand at Meredith, hoarsely whimpering.

"Hey," Meredith smiled as she saw Derek in there.

Derek smiled at her and looked at the baby as he asked, "How is she?"

Meredith shrugged. "Better than she was when we found her, but she still has trouble breathing; especially while she eats."

Derek watched Meredith putting the bottle aside on the table and carefully lifting her to her chest to help her burp. He crouched beside them and smiled as he ran his hand over the baby's tiny head. She opened her blue eyes and looked at him.

"Do you want to hold her?" Meredith asked him.

Derek didn't want to encourage Meredith, so he shook his head. "You'd better put her back to incubator. She looks sleepy."

Meredith stood up from the rocking chair and turned to him. "She will fall asleep in your arms."

"Meredith," Derek pled softly.

"Derek," she chuckled. "It's not like I am asking you to take her home. If you don't want to hold her, that's fine." She turned her back on him and started pacing slowly around the room.

"Have they found anything about her mother yet?"

"Not much."

"But the bracelet she was wearing that night was from Mercy West, wasn't it?"

"Yes, but apparently there was a baby boom the day she was born so they can't tell exactly to which woman she belonged. There were two baby girls born with the same blood type as hers and both mothers are missing."

"Strange."

Meredith just shrugged. "They say it's just a matter of hours until they found out who her mother is and once they found her they will put her under charge for abandoning her baby."

Because Derek had gotten to know Meredith pretty well, he knew she was disappointed with him. He walked up in front of her and gently slid his hands around the baby, taking her into his arms. A smile crept on his face as the baby stretched her arms out and yawned, and his smile became wider as she opened her eyes to look at him.

"How can anyone just think to leave her? Let alone in a cold place," he muttered under his breath.

Meredith took a step towards him, close enough of him and the baby. "I don't know," she answered quietly, gently stroking the baby's head. "Don't you think she looks like a Rose?" she asked Derek.

Derek looked at her, curious. "Like a Rose?"

"Like a Rosalie," Meredith nodded and added as she shrugged her shoulders, "Her cheeks are red and her hair seems to have a tone of reddish; her eyes are blue. She looks like a Rosalie."

Derek chuckled and approved with a nod. "I guess she does."

"Do you think it's ok if we name her?"

"I don't know," he hesitated. "But it's a pretty name."

Meredith smiled wearily. "It is."

Derek had the chance to experience a little bit of Meredith's attraction to this baby now; it was the heartwarming feeling that swept through all his pores as he held her and rocked her slowly; a tiny human being looking so fragile in his arms. Before he knew, he was into a different dimension, one of him and the baby only.

Only when the baby closed her eyes, opening her mouth with a yawn, and Meredith walked up in front of them again, Derek came back to present time. He smiled at Meredith and carefully put the baby in Meredith's arms, so she would take her back to the incubator.

"You're ready to go?" Derek asked her, not getting to the real reason of his visit there.

He read some hesitance in Meredith's movements while she put the baby inside and he could take a guess of her answer.

"Mer, please," he asked softly.

"I am," she answered quietly.

Derek looked at her with distrust. He had gotten to know Meredith pretty well indeed.

Meredith turned and saw the look on her husband's face. "I am," she repeated, annoyed, but hopeful that convincing enough.

"We need to talk," Derek told her.

"I don't see what's to talk. She's a baby; a patient; abandoned on Christmas Eve," Meredith blurted.

"It's not about the baby, Meredith," he rolled his eyes. "It's about Doc. We need to talk about the dog."

"What about Doc?" Meredith became suddenly worried. "Is he sick?"

"No, he's not, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was and you wouldn't know," Derek added the last part quietly and sarcastically.

"I am coming home tonight," Meredith tried to convince him.

"Ok"

"What do you want to talk about Doc?"

"Hmm," Derek mused. "I just realized. You have no idea what's going on with the people around you."

Meredith became curious and worried at the same time. "Did he bite anyone? A child or an old person?"

"No," Derek chuckled. "Your father has grown fond of him and Doc seems to like your dad just as much."

"He's taking him out fishing everyday almost," Meredith pointed out.

"The thing is that your father asked me if we want the dog back."

"Do we?" she asked him.

"I don't know," he answered hesitantly. "I love my dog. He's a good dog, but I also think that he would be better with your father as we're always busy and he stays alone most of the day."

"I guess we can visit him when we miss him," Meredith seemed to agree with Derek.

"Of course."

"Then… that's it. We talked about Doc."

"That's not all about Doc," Derek smiled knowingly.

Meredith lifted her shoulders, questioning.

"I will tell you tonight when you come home," he teased her.

"Derek," Meredith groaned.

"Tonight, Mer,"

"But Derek, if there's something wrong with my dog I'd like to know."

Derek didn't give in. He leaned in for a kiss and then turned to the door. "Tonight."

"Derek!"

As Derek walked outside, Meredith hurried after him. "It's about my mom, isn't it?"

Derek stopped dead in his track and turned on his heels. Then Meredith knew she had guessed right. "Mom doesn't like pets."

Derek sighed and smiled at her, nodding his head. "And your dad decided it was time to stand against your mother and do as he wants and not as she asks him."

Meredith stared at him, half amused, half surprised.

"Impressive. I am supporting your dad." Derek leaned to her again and kissed her. "Don't make me wait long. I miss you," he whispered in her ear.

Meredith just smiled and watched him leaving. She had other plans.

**---**

The disappointment that Derek experienced in the morning when he woke up alone and he remembered that he had slept alone, again, followed him all day. He was too disappointed to even be mad with Meredith; he chose therefore to avoid Meredith as much as possible, at least until he would calm down and clear his head.

Meredith didn't have to bother much to know what was going on with Derek. She was feeling truly guilty, though she had disappointed him consciously.

That evening she was determined to go home and spend some time alone with her husband. There was also a purpose for it and Derek wasn't allowed to be mad of her, so she can complete her plan. She didn't insist on tracking Derek down and talk to him much either. She was sure that her presence at home would ease the tension between them.

It was still early and little light outside when Meredith arrived home. As she walked in and met the complete silence, depression took over. She was missing Doc just now. She let out a sigh and threw the keys back in her bag, walking inside. She turned all the lights on, hoping that the light would cover somehow the silence.

Meredith understood now what Derek meant each time he said he couldn't stay home alone. She wouldn't be able to stay alone in that empty, quiet house either.

She went upstairs to take a shower, change into clean clothes and shortly the dinner was at the door also. In record time she managed to set a small table in living room in front of the couch, brought the wine into a bucket with ice and looked for candles. Lights were off, the candles burning, dinner warm and the wine cold. Everything was ready, just Derek was missing.

After she saw everything set, Meredith started getting impatient. What if Derek got called for an emergency on the last minute? Or what if he was really upset with her and he wasn't going to sleep at home? She was pacing around, debating with herself if to call him or not, when she heard a car stopping on their drive way.

She had thought at first, it would be the best if she would wear some sexy lingerie, but then she realized it wasn't really her style and besides that it might raise suspicions to Derek; therefore, she chose comfortable sweats and a green blouse which she knew Derek liked as it revealed at least one her of her shoulders as it slipped at sides.

Meredith took a seat on the couch, folding her hands on her knees, and fixed the entrance with her eyes. She heard the front door closing and locking back and her heart started beating faster. She wouldn't have been this nervous if things between her and Derek hadn't been this gray.

She watched Derek stopping in the doorway, obviously surprised. He still held a small frown on his face as he searched the room with his eyes, watching the romantic surrounding, then Meredith's image shyly sitting on the couch.

"You're home," Derek cleared his throat and made his way inside, leaving his briefcase and jacket in a chair.

"And I made dinner. Actually, I didn't make it. The restaurant chef made it, because you know I don't cook much except for friendly muffins and I didn't have time to bake those, so… I made this stuff," she rambled, pointing around her in the end.

"You know, a five-year-old can talk more fluent than you," he teased her with a chuckle as he came to sit on the couch beside her. They looked into each other's eyes, smiling, as Derek put an arm around her. "What do I owe this nice surprise?"

Meredith shrugged. "I came to sleep home."

Derek narrowed his eyes and pulled back a little, eyeing her suspiciously. "Has the social services come already?"

"No," Meredith frowned just at that thought. "Don't make such a big deal out of this. I am home, ok?"

"Ok," he smiled reassuringly. "I won't ask anything more. I am glad to have you home." Meredith put her head down on his shoulder and enjoyed his comfort. "So, what do we have for dinner?" he asked after a while of peaceful silence.

Meredith leaned over the table and took the lid off a pot. "Roasted duck."

"You got that right," Derek smirked.

Meredith smirked back, "I know. And shrimp and some salads."

"There's a lot of food," he chuckled.

"I thought you were hungry."

In response to that Derek caressed her shoulder and kissed it. "I am hungry. But of something else."

Meredith rubbed her cheek against his face and gently pushed him away then. "We also have red wine."

Derek winced and shook his head. "I am not sure red wine was the right choice."

"Maybe it wasn't," she shrugged and there was lust in her eyes as she added, "But I am sure it's the right choice for the dessert."

"Like we would need red wine," Derek laughed. He still took the glasses and put them in front of him, before he took the bottle of wine to open it.

"I forgot the music." Meredith stated and quickly stood up from the couch.

"You have everything by the book I see," Derek noticed.

"I tried," Meredith giggled and pressed the play button, letting soft, quiet music fill the room. She walked back to the couch then and sat down beside Derek, receiving the glass of wine from him.

"Cheers," his glass knocked softly against hers and both took small sips from their wine.

"So…" Meredith cleared her voice. "Did I miss anything good today?"

Derek chuckled and nodded. "And this should deserve you as lesson not to pick long fights with me anymore."

"Sorry," Meredith pouted childishly, receiving a comforting kiss from Derek.

"How's the baby feeling?" he asked her.

"She's better and if she keeps feeling better she might get discharged in a week or so."

"That's good."

Meredith just nodded. There was some hesitation in her nod which Derek didn't notice.

"Are we going to Cristina's party tomorrow night?" he asked.

"I don't know if there's going to be any party there. Lexie didn't come at work today. She called and said she was sick. If she …."

"She what?" Derek interrupted her.

"She's sick."

"Mark's sick too," Derek stated.

Both looked at each other.

"What are they up to now?" Meredith frowned.

Derek shrugged his shoulders. "You don't want to go and check, I hope. I wouldn't want to spend the last night of year 2008 lecturing two grown-ups."

"This is the night, isn't it?" Meredith giggled.

"Yes, because tomorrow night doesn't even count."

"Hmm," she mused.

"It's been a full year," he stated and Meredith approved with a smile.

"Not bad."

"At all," Derek agreed. "So no 'saving Lexie' operation tonight?"

"Absolutely not," Meredith grinned and glued her lips to his.

Derek put his glass on the table, not letting go of her lips, and pulled her closer into his arms. Meredith had put her glass away too so she could lock her arms around his neck now.

"I hate to break this, but we have to turn the music off. I am just too tired for something this soft."

Meredith giggled and stood up quickly. "I know."

"Don't you have a remote for that?" Derek groaned.

"Well, this is my parents' house and they weren't much preoccupied with high tech."

"When we'll move into our house, we'll have remote for everything."

"And this way you'll get a big fat old man," Meredith giggled.

"And this way you'll get all the uninterrupted sex you want," Derek replied, knowing better.

Meredith lingered behind the couch, smiling at Derek. "Are you hungry?" she asked quietly, bringing a note of seduction in her voice, which was immediately heard by Derek, who nodded affirmative. "How hungry?"

"Starving," he answered. "And the fireplace looks warm." Meredith giggled, agreeing with his thoughts and she picked a blanket and Derek two pillows from the couch, making a comfortable bed down beside the fireplace.

"This place is hot, not warm," Meredith laughed as Derek laid her onto her back and yellow flames reflected against her skin.

"No," Derek disagreed, wriggling his brows seductively. "You feel hot, not the fireplace." He gently caressed her shoulders, pushing the blouse down her arm; his lips started brushing against her soft skin, tracing kisses up her neck and then down her arm. Meredith stood up a little so Derek could pull the blouse over her head, letting her torso bare. His lips found soon the taste of her collar and his lips the softness of her breast as he started loving her body.

Meredith tangled her fingers into his hair, arching her head to back as she enjoyed the most pleasant touch of their physical connection. There was no better place for her body to relax than in Derek's arms, under his caresses and kisses.

"Mer," Derek moaned as his mouth returned to hers. "You're hot."

"I know," she giggled. "But do you know what's not hot? Your shirt."

"Right," He got on his knees quickly.

Meredith knelt in front of him and helped him push the shirt off his shoulders as it was her turn to return the kisses and caresses.

The warmth of the fireplace, the dim light of the candles and the sound of their kiss only were going to make an unforgettable memory of their night together.

Meredith had her back snuggled in Derek's arms and he held a firm hand on her shoulder to feel her closer.

"I came home today," Meredith started quietly. "And I felt weird without Doc's greeting."

"We can bring him back," Derek reassured her.

Meredith rolled onto her back so she could look at him. "I am supporting my dad. I want him to win this over mom."

Derek chuckled. "You got a little from both your parents. You have your mom's strong personality and your dad's kindness and generosity."

"Thanks," she smiled. She propped herself up on one elbow. "But I don't think I have my mom's strong personality."

"Thank God," Derek added.

"But I can still put you down," she pushed him by his shoulder, flipping him onto his back.

"With your body; you sure do," he reassured her. "With your personality, you might have slight chances."

Meredith mounted him, smiling down at him as his hands gripped firmly her waist. "We're good together."

"I'd say great, but yeah. We are."

Meredith leaned down onto his body, propping herself on her forearms, and kissed him. His arms and legs secured her against his body and Derek rolled over, bringing her beneath him. "I love you."

Meredith brushed her hand against his face and stated, "I love you too."

With those words and that strong embrace, Derek started kissing her passionately, firing again their bodies; just that this time, Meredith couldn't allow. There was something she had to talk about with Derek.

"Derek, let's just cuddle for a moment," she asked, gently pushing him off her.

"We have all night to cuddle," he insisted.

"Derek," she became more pleading.

Confused, Derek looked up at her. "What is it?" Then he noticed there was something on her mind.

Meredith sighed and released herself from under the weight of his body, rolling onto her side. "I…" she just couldn't find the courage.

"Mer?"

"It's nothing… much," she stammered.

"But it's important," he noticed.

Meredith looked at him, questioning, "How do you know?"

"It's not that hard to know," he laughed. "You found your words with difficulty, you have this frown on your forehead, which by the way it might make you wrinkle prematurely," he teased her, his finger smoothing the line of her frown. "What's on your mind?"

She let out another sigh. "I… uh… I want to ask you something."

"Sure. You can ask me anything."

"It's more like… a favor."

"Mer," Derek chuckled. "Just tell me."

Meredith's frown deepened and she started biting her lip. "I'd like to… but just temporary and it's for a good cause and… you know I love you."

"Meredith," Derek was getting a little impatient with her. Then he froze. "Are you pregnant?"

"No," she answered quickly, then that gave her an idea too. "But I could be. What if I am pregnant, Derek?"

"Well, are you or not. If you think you are, then we should run you some tests."

"But what if I am?"

"I don't understand the question."

Meredith groaned. "Would want me to keep the baby?"

"Of course!" his answer was firm. "But why? Do you have any symptom?"

"No, but… I have this baby I'd like us to take under custody temporary."

Derek was staring at her, dumbfounded, now.

"I know this is… complicated or… too much. I know, but…"

Derek shook his head and didn't let her finish. "Do you want us to ask for her temporary custody?" Meredith just nodded. Derek could not believe his eyes and ears. He shook his head with disapproval.

"Just until they found a good family to adopt her."

"Meredith," Derek stood up and looked at her. "Are you aware of what you're asking me?"

"Yes. I thought about this very well before telling you. I know I am just an intern, but I can take a few weeks off to stay with her and then maybe my dad will want to sit with her while we're at work. I didn't take any leave since I've started working here, so I can be at home with her the few months."

"Meredith," Derek kept shaking his head.

"No," it was her turn not to let him finish. "Maybe it won't even take that long to find her a family. Just Derek… I don't want her to go to an orphanage. She's just a little baby and she's still so fragile. None would love her there."

"Meredith,"

"Ugh," she winced. "I don't like my name."

"Meredith. This is not Vegas anymore. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. This baby is a little human being and we can't take risk over such responsibility. It was just us in Vegas."

"This has nothing to do with Vegas."

"Meredith, tell me honestly, do you think you'd be able to let this baby go when a family will want to adopt her?"

Meredith let her eyes down.

"See? So we're not talking about something temporary here."

"But you just said, you'd want me to keep the baby if I were pregnant."

"If you were pregnant!" Derek pointed out. "Because then it would be our accident. But Meredith adopting a baby is different."

"How?"

"Well, you need to be fully conscious of what you're doing and why making this step so soon? We had a few scares and you saw how panicked you were. A baby is… too much for us."

"Maybe to you!"

"Yes, it would be too much for me too, but for you the most. I am already an attending; I got my recognition as surgeon. You haven't even finished your first year as intern. I know she has a sad story. It breaks anyone's heart. Even Mark's, but you don't see him hurrying to adopt her. Before anything else, we're doctors. You were the doctor who found her."

Meredith's eyes were swelling with tears and her voice was too close to the breaking voice as she muttered, "She's all alone, Derek."

Derek cupped her cheek, wanting to wipe her eyes, but she pulled her face away.

"I need to shower," she sniffled and stood up, leaving Derek alone in their previous romantic place.

Derek lay down, running his hands over his face. How silly of him to think that sense and knocked into Meredith and brought her home. Everything was part of her plan. He wasn't mad though. He had to appreciate her concern for that baby girl, but he could not appreciate the bad timing. He wouldn't have been ready for a pregnancy either maybe, but he would at least have nine months to prepare himself.

He started considerate her intention. He no longer had doubts that they were in a healthy and stable marriage, but it was their career, hers the most, he had to consider very well. He just couldn't make a decision.

Derek stood up, pulled his boxers on and went to find Meredith. He wasn't sure what he would say to her, but he couldn't let her alone.

Upstairs, he heard the water pouring in the shower. Derek found Meredith curled up in a corner, with hot water pouring over her, looking as if she was sleeping. He stepped inside, closed the door, turned the water off and grabbed the towel for her. He knelt in front of Meredith, covering her with the towel.

"If you were pregnant, I'd have nine months to get ready, but Meredith you can't pop this so suddenly and expect an answer. At least not the answer you want." Meredith kept her face buried in her knees. "I understand you, I really do, but we have to talk about this. This is a decision that should belong to both of us."

She looked up at him then.

"I am not heartless and you know that. She's a sweet baby and it's sad what's happening to her indeed, but we're the grown-ups and we are responsible for her. Tomorrow I will call my mom and tell her everything, we'll hear her opinion." Meredith opened her mouth, to protest probably, but Derek didn't let her. "Then we'll meet your family and hear their opinion. Then we'll talk to a lawyer and see what advices we receive. We might not stand for great chances for being both surgeons, but we'll try. The only thing I am asking you not to fall into depression if we don't receive her custody. We would have tried. Besides that, she's an adorable baby and there are so many couples out there that pray for a baby like her every day, so I am sure she would find herself a loving family. You want the best for her, right?"

Meredith nodded slowly.

"It's not a caprice, right?"

She nodded again.

"One more thing I am asking you. Never bring serious talks while we're trying for something romantic, ok?"

"Sorry," she muttered and a smile crept on her face.

Derek cupped her cheek and dropped a kiss on her forehead. "Let's go back downstairs."

"I am hungry," she stated as she took his hand and stood up.

"Me too."

"For food."

"Me too," Derek laughed.

Meredith wrapped herself in her towel and held Derek's hand as they walked out of the bathroom. She stopped outside on the hallway and turned to him. "So, we're going to adopt Rose, right?"

"We're going to try. Yes. And we need to talk about her name. I am not sure that Rose is the name you like the most."

"Derek?" Meredith smiled at him. "We're not the Vegas couple anymore."

"No, we're not." He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. "I love you."

She put her arms around his neck, smiling against his lips. "You have no idea."

"I don't," he winked at her, "but I hope I will figure out soon."

"Who is stronger now?" she elbowed him playfully.

"I suppose I still am," he smirked. "I got you out of the bathroom, didn't I?" Meredith wanted to reply, but Derek added quickly. "Don't say anything." She had talked him into her plan after all.


	44. Seriously married

**_Hi! First of all, I am sorry for the long absence. Life has been busy and this last chapter not very short :P I hope you're going to like the ending (which is completely different from what I had in head when I started this fic), because I am also going to bring up the epilogue to let you know of how the things settled for the characters._**

Enjoy! And let me know what you think of it.

**_---  
_**

**Chapter 44 – Seriously married**

Derek couldn't get much sleep that night. The idea of adopting a baby kept swirling into his head and, if it wasn't Meredith sleeping in his arms, he would have tossed between sheets all night. As noble as Meredith's intention was as unprepared Derek felt for such step. Of course he wanted babies, especially now that he was in a stable relationship, married, but he was scared of the responsibility. The question that kept him up most of the night wasn't if the adoption was the right thing; he was asking himself if he would have been this unprepared if Meredith had told him she was pregnant. Around 3 o'clock in the morning, he had his answer; yes. He would have been unprepared then too.

Then he started making a plan; if everything would go well with the adoption, he should consider a few months of leave from work to help Meredith with the baby. Derek nodded to himself; it was easier for him to take a long leave from work than it was for Meredith. Slowly his mind started imagining and making plans for the future, catching him in a slight desire of wishing this adoption to succeed.

He couldn't tell exactly for how long he had fallen asleep, but the alarm started buzzing too soon. Meredith groaned beside him and turned her back on him. He sleepily looked for the clock and managed to knock it down, but also brought silence back in their room. He rolled over and snuggled with Meredith.

"Do we have to be up now?" Meredith sighed.

"No. I am giving you a few more minutes."

Meredith turned over and snuggled into his arms. "Thanks," she sighed with content.

Sleep was vanishing quickly despite the lack of sleeping hours, so Derek could hold his eyes open now and watch Meredith's face, while he slowly brushed her hair. "Will you be sleeping home tonight?"

Meredith sleepily opened her eyes and smiled at him. "I promise. Though I am not sure about the sleep we will get tonight as we're invited to Cristina's party for New Year."

"I wasn't specifically referring to sleep," Derek smiled and ran his back against her cheek. "Thanks. I missed you."

"I missed you too." Becoming more awake too, Meredith propped herself up on her forearm. "About what we talked last night…"

Derek narrowed his eyes, interested. "What about it?"

"We're still on with that, right?" she wanted to be sure.

Derek chuckled and nodded. "And I think I found a pretty name for her."

"You did?" Meredith smiled, impressed.

"Elena."

"I like it," Meredith agreed without any second thought. "It's not that common."

"That's right. And about what we talked last night also…" it was his turn to make her interested, "Don't get high hopes, ok?"

"I know, Derek," she reassured him.

"Good. Whatever happens, she will get a good family."

"I know," she nodded and also looked convinced with it.

"Why don't you call in and tell them you're sick?" he suggested with a flirty smile. "I so want to take care of you today."

Meredith laughed and mounted him. "I guess I could have a bad morning and go later at work.

Derek wasn't entirely pleased, but he knew he couldn't miss from work all day either. He grabbed her waist and pulled her down to him so he could hold her face and kiss her.

Meredith was ready to melt into his arms, when she suddenly pulled back and stood up on him. "Do you know who else were sick yesterday?"

Confused, Derek had to clear his thoughts. Meredith sure knew how to frustrate him. "Mark and Lexie," he sighed. "Meredith, we agreed we wouldn't care."

"And we don't. It's just…"

"Nothing," Derek pulled her back down to him. "Listen to me and take this as a warning. If you keep interrupting us with more talking or nonsense, you will get no sex for a whole month. Just try me."

Meredith narrowed her eyes and smiled suspiciously.

"You don't believe me?" She shook her head. "Do you want to try me?" Meredith hesitated a little, but didn't say no. Derek sighed and shook his head. "Since we got married, I've started finding new things about you and there are a few I don't like."

Meredith didn't look amused anymore. "What does this mean?"

"It means that I can live with your flaws, but sometimes you should be aware of them and correct yourself in time."

"Ok. Now can we have sex?"

Derek chuckled proudly. "See how it feels for me?" he pointed out and to continue with the teasing, he gently pushed her off him. "Let's talk about this."

"About what?"

"About our flaws."

"Now?"

"Yes," he laughed. "I am paying you back for last night when instead of hot sex you wanted to talk about adoption."

Meredith frowned and moved next to him, pleading, "Pay me back some other time. Tonight."

Derek shook his head. "How do I know you will come home tonight?"

"I will."

"No," Derek refused. "I am not taking any more risks with you."

Meredith pulled back and looked at him. "Do you want to play hard?"

Derek nodded his head.

"Do you like to play hard?" she asked him and Derek nodded his head again. "Good, because I like it too," and quickly disappeared under the quilt.

"Mer!" Derek hurried to get her out. "Oh God!" but it was too late. She won that battle.

Later they were still in bed, but now getting some rest.

"Do you think I am late enough?" Meredith asked Derek sleepily.

Derek looked back at the clock on his nightstand and groaned. "No," he murmured as he returned to her. "Because I always set the clock earlier."

"Speaking of flaws," she giggled.

"Hey, if you weren't so lazy…"

Meredith rolled over, facing him. "Let's get started."

Derek nodded and both trailed out of the bed. After shower, Derek went downstairs to make coffee and something for them to eat.

Coming down the stairs, Meredith felt once again Doc's absence. "How can you miss something that annoys you too much?"

"Doc?" Derek laughed and Meredith answered with a nod. "Seriously, Mer. If you miss him that much, we can take him back. We could buy your father a puppy."

"No," she shook her head. "I just got used to him. But we might have a baby soon."

Derek smiled at her. "We might."

"You should talk to the guys and have the house fixed as soon as possible. We should have our own place, a proper one for living."

"I know. But today it's New Year's Eve, tomorrow everyone will have hangover, so after the 2nd I should call them. We have time, don't worry."

Meredith just nodded.

"Coffee?" he pointed to the coffee machine.

Meredith stood up from the bar and took two mugs with her. She filled them with fresh coffee, giving one to Derek and taking the other one with her at the table.

Meredith was washing the dishes and Derek was preparing his briefcase when the doorbell rang. Derek went to answer the door.

Lexie stormed in cheerfully. "Morning. Where's Mer?"

"Morning," Derek replied, surprised. "Aren't you late for work?"

"I am. Actually, I might not really."

"You might not really?" he laughed.

"Yeah," Lexie replied, distracted. "Where's Mer?"

"In the kitchen,"

Lexie ran there right away.

"Hey," Meredith was surprised with Lexie's visit too. "Aren't you late for work?"

"She might not really," Derek laughed as he walked in.

Lexie smiled at them and there was a gleam in her eyes that told them she had big news for them.

"What's going on?" Meredith asked her.

Lexie took a deep breath and showed them her left hand, where on the ring finger was hanging a big diamond. "He proposed!" she beamed.

"Who?" Derek and Meredith asked at the same time.

"Mark!"

"What?" they shouted and looked at each other too shocked for words.

"I know!" Lexie kept beaming. "He proposed to me the other night and just yesterday he went to buy a ring."

"Let me guess," Meredith said. "While you waited for him in bed."

Lexie giggled and Meredith shook her head with disapproval. "What?" Lexie shrugged. "He did the right thing this time. We're doing it the right way."

"Lexie," Meredith wasn't as sure as Lexie was.

"Give him some credit, Mer. Tell her, Derek," Lexie looked for Derek's support.

"Give me a second," Derek muttered as he kept staring at Lexie's ring. "That diamond might have sliced my brain into pieces."

"I know it's surprising."

"Shocking!" Meredith contradicted her and Derek agreed with her.

"Shocking," Lexie giggled. "But we talked and we decided. We're ready to get married. Ok, I admit. I wasn't expecting hugs and congratulations from you. I just came to give you the news."

"Congratulations, Lexie," Derek managed to have cleared his head a little, though not understanding everything yet.

"Thank you, Derek."

Meredith gave her cousin a hug. "Congrats."

"Thanks, Mer. And I have other news to share with you and prepare yourselves because it's as big as the proposal was."

Meredith gasped. "You're pregnant? Again?"

"No," Lexie smiled. "But, Mark and I talked and we'll get married very soon. We'll have a small wedding, because as we're married, we'll apply the adoption papers for Emily."

Meredith and Derek found themselves staring at Lexie again.

"Who's Emily?" Meredith asked in a faint voice, though she had an idea.

"The baby you found."

Meredith took a deep breath and felt like she was about to faint. Derek noticed her reaction so he was by her side in a second.

"Her name is not Emily," Meredith managed to mutter.

"I am not going to name her Rose, Mer," Lexie disagreed.

"Her name is Elena," Meredith kept muttering as if she was talking to herself and no longer listening to Lexie.

"Mer," Derek spoke softly in her ear. He knew she was going to outburst soon.

"Derek and I talked," Meredith stated. "We want to adopt Emi… Elena."

"What?" it was Lexie's turn to froze her smile.

"Yes, we talked and we want to adopt her. You see, we're married already," Meredith's reply came full of malice this time. "And we're not newlyweds."

"We're going to try," Derek didn't want her to forget.

It was too late it seemed as Meredith was more focused on confronting her cousin now.

Derek didn't like the way things were turning.

"Are you sure about this, Lexie?" Derek asked her. "I mean, is Mark ready?"

"Yes. He came with the suggestion," Lexie retorted.

Derek knew she was lying. Lexie wasn't playing Ms. Nice anymore either.

"No, he didn't," he disagreed. "And do not lie, because I know Mark very well."

"No, you don't," Lexie retorted, still able to use a calm tone. "Because he proposed to me after I told him I'd like to adopt Emily."

"Elena," Meredith grumbled.

"Emily," Lexie repeated maliciously.

Derek put a hand on Meredith's back in attempt of calming her down. For a moment, Derek asked himself if it wasn't better to step aside and let them fight and scratch their eyes out. He liked his wife's eyes though, so he had to be on her side.

"Lexie, Mark won't take a week off to stay with the baby. I think he told you that," and from her silence, Derek had his answer. "And you're just an intern."

"I thought about this very well so don't try to talk me out of it," Lexie replied. "I thought about this and I made a decision. If we receive her custody, I will switch to an easier specialty. I will leave surgery and get into Pediatrics."

"If, so you're not all willing to make the switch," Derek pointed out.

"Don't play doctor with me, Derek," Lexie frowned. "I am not all willing, but I am willing to do this sacrifice for Emily."

Derek squeezed Meredith's shoulder when she wanted to correct Lexie. Derek didn't know what else to say to that. Lexie's will to sacrifice was impressive indeed, contrary to Meredith who wasn't willing to do such thing. Of course, Meredith had him and he could help her.

Derek found himself in doubts now. He wanted to support Meredith and be on her side, but the balance was leaning more in Lexie's favor.

Because Derek didn't seem to have anything to say against Lexie, Meredith turned to look at him. He gave her an apologetic look and put his arms around her.

Meredith turned to her cousin. "We'll talk to a lawyer today."

"Today is New Year's Eve," Lexie replied knowingly. "Besides that, I don't think you found out. Emily's mother was found dead last night."

"What?"

"She killed herself. She didn't have other relatives beside her father who is sick in a care house. And the baby's father is unknown, so they will publish an article in the local paper, in case the man who knew this woman didn't know he was a father he can decide whether he wants her or not. It might take a few weeks until Emily will be legal to adopt."

Meredith was slowly processing the whole information. "If he's a decent man, he will come for her. In the meantime, we can still ask for her temporary custody."

"Meredith, we talked about this," Derek told her.

Meredith just shot him a glare.

"Why are you doing this?" Lexie argued. "You know what this means to me."

"I didn't force you to abort your baby!" Meredith retorted.

"Meredith!" Derek stopped her before throwing any other harmful word to her cousin. "We need to talk about this," he told her and also looked at Lexie. "We all need to talk about this with our families. We'll talk to ours, to a lawyer, and Lexie you need to do the same. We're a family after all."

"I can't believe this," Lexie shook her head and turned to leave. "I am late for work," she grumbled as she headed to the door.

"It doesn't matter who receives the custody," Derek wanted to comfort Meredith. "She would stay in our family."

Meredith turned to him with a glare. "Whose side are you on?"

"Yours."

"Ok, then stop saying anything else. You know…"

Derek's pager went on and didn't let her finish. Meredith sighed and said as Derek checked the code, "We're late for work."

Derek nodded and reluctantly got ready for work. He hated that he had to let this talk hanging.

---

Derek needed a little time of relaxation later that day, after a long surgery. He was walking by his office on his way to an on-call room when something inside the office caught his attention. He stopped and looked inside, to see Mark sitting in there and working on his computer.

Curious and also aware that he hadn't had the chance to ask Mark for explanation yet, Derek decided to have a talk to him.

"I hear congratulations are in order," stated Derek as he leaned against the doorframe.

Mark chuckled from his chair. "I was sure she would brag."

"She didn't have to. Her ring is bragging itself."

Mark smirked with satisfaction at his friend. "Do I or do I not have good tastes? And by this I am referring at more than jewelries."

"Mark, what's going on? What are you doing?" Derek asked as he walked in and shut the door.

Mark shifted in his chair, adopting a more comfortable position, as he looked ready for a serious talk.

"I proposed to Lexie."

"Uh," Derek groaned. "I think that's plain obvious. But why?"

Mark shrugged. "I think it's time to settle down."

Derek eyed him suspiciously. "Is it because of the homesick? You know, when you get homesick, you just go home. You don't marry decent girls."

"I am not messing with her," Mark stated.

"You're in love with her?" Derek asked him, almost not believing what he had just heard.

"I wouldn't call it love," Mark winced lightly. "You know, love is a big word and I am not the man of big words. I just feel like Lexie is the right person to settle down with."

Derek sat on the desk, folded his arms against his chest and looked at his friend, "Are you in some sort of depression? They have good shrinks here too."

Mark just rolled his eyes.

"And you suggested adoption?" Derek went on with his interrogatory.

"Why not?" Mark replied matter-of-factly. "She's so fond of that baby and…" he hesitated a little before continuing, and Derek could swear he saw him swallowing a lump, "… we lost a baby already. Maybe that was a rush decision."

"And you think this will substitute the loss?"

Mark shrugged. "It's just feels right."

"It might feel right, but it's not. What is going on with you people?" Derek questioned through a sigh while shaking his head with disapproval. "I studied to become a neurosurgeon not a psychiatrist. Do I really have to knock some sense in everyone?"

"What's your problem?" Mark frowned. "I said I am not messing with her again."

"Ok, I got that and you want to marry her. That's brave of you, but adopting a baby?"

"Yeah," Mark didn't look so sure this time. "I am not entirely sure about this, but it will be like Lexie is pregnant again. We would have to deal with it this time."

Derek sighed and went to sit in a chair beside his friend. He was so tired of being the only rational grown-up in the room.

"I heard some stuff too," Mark told him. "Do you want to adopt this baby too?"

Derek shrugged his shoulders. "Meredith wants it. I am just supporting her."

"You don't want a baby?"

"I do, but I am not very sure that right now. Besides that, Lexie wants the same thing now and she and Meredith don't talk to each other anymore."

"Maybe some relative will come and take her home," Mark muttered.

"Slight chances from what I heard," Derek shook his head. "What do I do now?"

"You're asking me?" Mark smiled. It had always been vice versa.

"Who else?"

Mark shrugged.

"I have an idea," Derek said. "Why don't you talk to Meredith and convince her to let you adopt this baby. You can be gooy."

"Never!" Mark protested. "I am not a gooy person. Besides, have you seen the last look on your wife's face? I am not getting any closer to her."

"She's inoffensive," Derek laughed. "She's a tiny person."

"Right, like I would trust the size. I can't believe you're capable of sending me into the wolf's cage."

"You're exaggerating," Derek laughed.

"Then why don't you talk to her? Promise her the moon and the stars, a dozen of cute little babies of your own and talk her out of this. I could try though…,"

Derek nodded, expecting his help.

"But that it would include no pants and underpants to make the talk work," he added.

"Right," Derek nodded and gave up on hoping for help from his friend.

"We could try something," Mark suggested and this time it didn't seem to be something nasty. "Why don't we find adoptive parents for the baby? Don't you know any couple wishing so much for a baby?"

That seemed like an interesting idea to Derek. He gave a thought about it, but no couple came into his head.

"You don't want this baby really," Derek noticed.

"I could live without it."

"But Lexie couldn't," Derek pointed out. "If you marry her, you will need to stay by her side in all situations."

"That's what you're doing?"

"I am trying."

"Yes, I am supporting Lexie. If she really wants this baby girl, then I will have to help her have her. I will even talk to Meredith."

Derek narrowed his eyes, not so sure.

"Don't worry. I will probably wear armor or something to shield me from danger."

Derek laughed. "But use your honest, sensitive side. Meredith will know if you lie."

"So you're going to help us? How about sticking to your wife's side?"

"I don't know what to do. I don't want Meredith to believe that I don't support her and I am not sure that you guys getting married and adopting a baby is the right thing to do either."

"We'll see," Mark sighed and stood up from the chair. "I am going to talk to Meredith and see how things go. One thing I want you and Meredith to be sure of, I know how big an adoption is and if I assume responsibility for this, I am going to keep it."

Derek could tell Mark was honest about that. Now he didn't know what to do about Meredith.

They walked out of Derek's office together and right around the corner, at the nurses' station Meredith was writing down in a chart.

Mark stopped suddenly as he spotted her, closely watched by Derek's amusement. "Ok, so I am not that brave." Mark patted Derek's shoulder. "You talk to her."

"Chicken," Derek hissed as Mark took off in the opposite direction.

Mark just waved his hand in the air, walking away.

Derek didn't know what he was going to say to Meredith, but he went to her anyway. He put a hand on her back and smiled as she stirred at his touch.

"Do you have a second?" he asked her.

Meredith nodded. She signed the chart and handed it to the nurse before she followed Derek into an on-call room.

"What is it?" she asked him as she walked in front of him and put her arms around him. "I only have a second," she sighed.

Derek gave her a hug and chuckled. "See what abstinence does?"

Meredith pulled back, embarrassed. "I wasn't thinking about sex."

Derek just smiled. He knew better. "I want to talk to you."

"Ok," Meredith nodded for him to go on.

"About adoption," Derek said. "What are we going to do now, Meredith?"

Meredith looked at him, confused. "What do you mean? We'll talk to a lawyer first. And to our families. Right?"

Derek sighed and took her hand, leading her to the bed. They sat down next to each other and Derek cradled her hand between his. "What are we going to do now, Meredith? How will things stay between you and Lexie from now on?"

Meredith pulled her hand back instantly. "Do you care more about Lexie?"

"No! But I do care about the relationship between you and her."

"Don't worry about that," she frowned.

"You know we have a little more chances than she and Mark have to obtain the custody. Do you think she will ever forgive you?" Before Meredith could argue, Derek added quickly, "She might have made a wrong decision with the abortion, but you know how affected she was by it. It wasn't a simple decision."

"But it was hers," Meredith replied sharply.

"I know and as I said, it was a wrong decision. As we see it now. Back then we all agreed it was the right thing to do."

"They got married in Mexico!" Meredith blared out. "And she even believed she was married for real. Now she wants to get married again, to the same idiot, and she also wants to adopt a baby. Don't you see what she's doing? Doesn't this sound familiar to you?"

"I am not sure if the idiot part should sound familiar," Derek pointed out.

"Derek," Meredith sighed.

"Meredith, you're saying she's copying you?" Derek almost laughed.

Meredith turned to him with a glare. "Isn't it obvious? Do you need a scheme?"

Derek took a deep breath. He felt his nerves going over the edge. "Ok, so now you're calling me stupid?" he laughed bitterly. "I don't think that's so smart of you; especially when I can help you get what you want."

"I didn't call you stupid. Don't be so dramatic." Meredith retorted. She started pacing nervously around the room, biting her lip. She stopped and turned to Derek, "I am not going to let her win this."

Derek grabbed and pulled her to him, a little too harsh as Meredith winced at pain. He shook her and made her look at him. "What's wrong with you? Who are you?"

"What is wrong with you?" Meredith fought to release herself from his grip.

Derek opened the mouth to retort, but he was too nervous for words. His hand kept gripping firmly her arm as he looked at her, horrified. "You and Lexie are two children." He realized that with disappointment. "You're so immature. I feel like I don't know you anymore, Meredith. Who are you?"

He let go of her hand and ran his hands through his hair with exasperation. "We're not adopting any baby. I am going to let Mark and Lexie do it either."

Meredith was too startled by Derek's outburst to fight with him anymore. She kept rubbing her arm on the spot that Derek had probably bruised and went to sit in the opposite corner from Derek. "You didn't want this from the beginning," she muttered.

Derek groaned, rolling his eyes. "I thought about a name for her, Meredith. I even imagined myself her dad. I made plans of how will handle her. But Meredith I agreed to adopt her because I do want to have children with you and you looked mature and determined about this. I was so wrong about you."

Meredith looked at him, her eyes welling up with tears. "Wrong?"

Derek walked up to her and shook his head. He knocked his finger against her forehead. "Is there anything in there? Any reasoning? Any sign of maturity."

"Don't do that," Meredith slapped his hand away.

"Meredith, I want to be your husband, not your dad. I want to take decisions with you and I want to trust in your decisions. Life, marriage and all the things that belong to a married couple are a serious game."

Meredith sat down on the edge of the bed, cradling her head in her hands. Every word Derek had told her was now buzzing in her head; he was right, but he was also wrong. He couldn't understand her. She felt him coming and crouching in front of her, putting his hands on her knees. She didn't look up.

"I didn't know you were spoiled," Derek said with calm. "Meredith, I love you and I would do anything for you. I would support you in any decision you make, but only if I can trust you."

Meredith looked up. "I want to help this baby, Derek."

"And I will help you."

Meredith looked at him, confused. "Then?"

Derek groaned and stood up. "You're so slow," he muttered under his breath.

"You're good at words," Meredith stated bitterly while glaring at him. "One moment we adopt the baby, the next second we're not. What are we going to do, Derek?"

"_Not!_"

Meredith jumped up. "Thank you, Derek. For your '_support_'," she sarcastically used air quotes.

"Yes, Meredith," he retorted. "And air quotes. Very mature of you."

Meredith pushed him away and walked past him, but Derek grabbed her quickly. "And running away. Even more mature. Can't you stand a serious talk, Meredith?"

Meredith fought and released herself from his grip.

"If you walk out that door…" Derek warned her.

Meredith grabbed the doorknob and stopped to look at him. "What if?"

"Is it you that needs a scheme now?"

Meredith couldn't take that insult and stormed outside, leaving Derek crushing on the bed, exasperated.

-----

It was evening, only 2 hours left until New Year, and Meredith sat in her car in the parking lot. She heard Derek had left already and she didn't know where he was. One thing she knew, she couldn't face him right now. She didn't know what to do, where to go.

She had to leave though, because she didn't want the New Year to find her alone in an empty parking lot. There was still a place she could go.

-----

From her car, Meredith looked at the neighbors' houses, cheerful and brightly colored. There was just one house that looked different from the others; it was quiet, poor lightened, as if it was a regular evening; it was also very familiar to Meredith.

She took the key out of the contact and stepped outside in the cold as the wind blew past her. She shut the door and as she locked it she heard a familiar barking coming from inside the house.

"Doc," she smiled.

Doc's barking was getting more and more nervous as he felt someone watching the house, but Meredith could not get her feet to move to the house. What was she going to tell them? When did she ever look for advices from them? It was still the only familiar place at the moment though.

"What is it, Doc?" Meredith heard her father's voice talking to the dog and his shadow crossing the house and coming at the door.

His father looked out the window and Meredith read her name on his lips.

The door opened and Doc ran outside, now happily barking as he recognized his former master.

"Hey, Doc!" Meredith knelt down, petting him.

"Meredith?" her father called from the doorway. "What are you doing here?"

Tears rolled down her cheeks, one by one, until they started to pour. Doc was her and Derek's baby and they had lost their baby, but the thought of losing Derek was more terrifying. She held Doc's head in her hands and buried her face in his fur as she cried her pain out.

"Meredith!" her father ran to her. "Meredith, what happened?"

Meredith just shook her head and kept crying. Even if she wanted to tell she couldn't have because of the sobs.

"Ellis!" Thatcher shouted to his wife. "Ellis, come outside!"

Probably alarmed by her husband's voice and also trained to answer promptly to an alarm, Ellis showed up in the doorway immediately.

"Meredith?" she asked, just as confused and worried as Thatcher. Despite the cold outside, she hurried out of the house to go check on her daughter. "What happened?" she asked Thatcher.

"I don't know. She started to cry when Doc ran to her."

"Meredith?" she asked her daughter. "What happened? Where's Derek?"

At the sound of Derek's name, Meredith's sobs became harder and that gave her parents a clue over what had happened.

"Let's go inside," she bent to help Meredith up, but met her resistance.

"Give her a moment," Thatcher asked.

"Here? Outside? What will the neighbors say?" Ellis asked in whisper.

Thatcher turned to her with a glare and let a quiet hiss escape through his lips. That caught Ellis off guard and made her step back.

By the way Meredith was clutching on Doc and crying, they understood that something serious might have happened and decided to give her a moment to calm down. Even Doc sat still, with his snout on her shoulder, and comforted her the best way he could.

Her eyes couldn't cry a river, so as the tears started to stop and the sobs to calm, Meredith pulled back, sniffing and laughing as she played with Doc's ears.

"Meredith?" Thatcher asked her softly. "Let's go inside, ok?"

She looked up at her father and nodded, allowing him to help her up and lead her to the house, closely followed by her mother and Doc. He led her into the living room where, as she had imagined, they were having a quiet dinner.

"Meredith, what's going on?" Ellis asked her. "Where's Derek?"

Meredith looked absent-minded as they sat down in living room, but smiled when Doc came and sat down to her feet.

"Why are you two still married?" she found herself asking her parents.

"What?" Thatcher looked at his wife, confused.

"How come you're still married after all these years?" Meredith asked, wiping her cheeks. "You're weak; you have no authority," she said, looking at her father. "And you're so bossy and you need to be right all the time."

Still confused with the question, Thatcher smiled kindly at Meredith and sat down beside her on the couch. "Because I am too scared of important decisions. She takes them all and if one fails, she gets all the blame."

Meredith furrowed her brows as she listened to her father's answer.

"As you said," Ellis cut in also. "I like being right all the time and he can't stand a fight with me, so I always win, I am always right."

Meredith's frown deepened as she looked at her parents. "And Derek and I are divorcing? Why?" she whimpered.

Thatcher and Ellis looked at each other, worried. "A divorce?" Ellis asked her. "What happened? You just vowed to each other a few days ago."

Meredith shrugged her shoulders and her eyes sadly watched Doc. "I am not sure about the divorce," she muttered. "He hasn't mentioned the word yet."

"Meredith, what happened?" Ellis asked her.

"Derek and I fought," Meredith sighed.

"Meredith," her father sighed with relief. "People fight all the time. There are big and small fights; a married couple has them all, but they work things out."

"How do you work things out between you?"

"Compromise," they answered together.

Meredith let another sigh and leaned her back against the couch. Doc jumped up and sat between her and father, putting his head down on her lap.

"Thatcher!" Ellis whimpered and pointed desperately to Doc, clearly not happy to see the dog on her furniture.

"He's clean, mom."

"Not quite," her mother disagreed. "Besides, it leaves hair everywhere."

Meredith petted her dog with a faint smile on her face. "He's a good dog. You saw how he felt someone was watching the house."

Thatcher looked up at Ellis and nodded, taking Meredith's side.

"I don't care about your stupid dog," Ellis muttered. "I am worried about you. What exactly happened? Why did you fight?"

Meredith looked up as her mother expressed her concern and was surprised to see her worried indeed. "You know the baby I found on Christmas Eve." Her parents nodded as they knew the story already.

"Her mother was found dead. She killed herself," Meredith went on with the story. "And I talked to Derek and we decided we would try to adopt her."

"Adopt her?" her parents looked surprised.

"And Derek accepted?" Ellis asked her.

"He did. It wasn't easy to convince him, but I did. He even came up with a name for her."

"Meredith, do you have any idea what an adoption means?" Ellis interrupted her, visibly not pleased with what her daughter was saying.

"Your mother is right," Thatcher took Ellis' side.

Meredith looked questioningly at him. "Why are you even talking? You agree with her no matter what she says."

"Meredith!" Ellis scolded.

Meredith took a deep breath and sighed. "I am sorry," she apologized, aware of the inappropriate words. "We are not going to adopt her anyway," she added, muttering. "Because Lexie will do it."

"What?"

Meredith nodded. "Mark proposed and she said yes. And apparently she suggested adoption and he said yes. And now Derek agrees to help them."

Ellis and Thatcher looked at each other, too confused for words.

"You know what the worst part is?" Meredith said. "Derek is right. We should let Lexie adopt her. She lost a baby already and she's also willing of switching to an easier specialty to be able to raise the baby. I am not that willing because I like cutting people open."

"She wants to switch to something easier?" Ellis wasn't pleased with that news either.

"It's not that bad," Meredith wanted to point out for Lexie. "If she's happy with what she has."

At one point, Thatcher stopped listening to their conversation. He stopped at the point where, "Lexie lost a baby?" he blurted out.

Meredith and Ellis looked at him and then at each other. Yes, only a few people knew about Lexie's abortion and Thatcher wasn't one of them.

Meredith shook her head. She wasn't ready to give her father explanation over what had happened to Lexie, so she stood up and started pacing around, telling her own problem. "Do you know what really pisses me off in this? It's not the fact that I don't get to become that girl's mother, because I do believe that Lexie will be a good mom; it's the fact that…" she paused a little, finding words with difficulty. "She tries to compete with me all the time and you know neither of us likes to lose. First she ran to Mexico and got married to that man-whore Mark…"

"What?" his father exclaimed, unaware of that news either.

Meredith shook her head at his interruption and went on. "If she adopts this baby, she will become some kind of a hero for adopting her."

"Meredith, that's not true," Ellis said. "You found the baby, so you saved her. Who knows how long it could have passed until someone would have found her. Who knows if someone would have found her alive."

"Am I living in a different dimension?" Thatcher asked them, irritated as none seemed to put him up to date.

"It's female stuff, Thatcher."

"What?" Thatcher glared at her. "I don't know what you think of me, but sometimes a man wants to know about the big things that happen in his daughter's life; or his niece's. And sometimes a father wants to have a word to say."

Ellis motioned for him to have his word.

"This is your fault!" Thatcher accused Ellis.

"What?" Ellis snapped back.

"Yes. It was you that always put Meredith and Lexie in competition. Look what you've done now. They're grown-ups but they fight over serious things like two girls."

Ellis turned to Meredith with a scowl. "Why are you still standing there? Go find Derek. Talk to him. Be a wife!"

Meredith stepped back at her mother's outburst.

"It's almost midnight, Meredith," her father told her. "You don't want to be apart from each other this night. Besides, your mother and I need to talk."

Meredith wasn't sure of what she had just done. "You're not going to divorce, are you?"

Ellis and Thatcher smiled knowingly at each other and then Ellis told Meredith, "You have so much to learn about marriage. You go to Derek and call me tomorrow to tell me what happened. We'll deal with Lexie later."

Meredith nodded and her father walked her to the door with Doc. The moment Thatcher closed the door, he and Ellis started arguing again. Meredith shook her head. She had a lot to learn about marriage indeed.

----

Derek could be in two places at that hour; either at the hospital or at their new house. Her instinct drove her to their house. She was anxious to get faster to him, being too afraid of the consequences of their fight. Meredith thought while she drove, she had to become more mature; think maturely and react maturely. She didn't want to lose Derek over her childish behavior.

She had just entered their street when a strong light caught her attention and as she remembered the place, the light was coming from their land. Curious and also scared, Meredith sped up and pressed the break quickly as she got in front of the house.

The whole house was lit inside as if the sun had exploded in there. They had electricity at last, Meredith smiled.

Derek's car was pulled in front of the house indeed and Meredith parked her car beside his and got outside.

The light made the empty house look huge and Meredith felt a little uncomfortable with it. "Derek?" she called, accompanied by her echo.

"Upstairs!" Derek answered from a further room.

Meredith had to concentrate to make her way through the house until the place where Derek was. Upstairs, the lights were on also. Meredith looked into one of the room, but Derek was not there.

"I am in here!" Derek called her as if he knew she was having trouble finding him.

It was easier to follow his voice this time. Meredith walked to the end of the hall and found Derek in probably the only unlit room in the house.

"What are you doing on dark?" she asked him.

Derek was sitting by the window when Meredith walked in. He glanced at her and said, "Come. I want to show you something."

Meredith walked to the window and stopped beside him, looking out the window and following his gaze. From there, they were having a great view over the city; as if they were on the top of a mountain. The sky was clear and the moon bright, making the horizon look clearer and much closer.

"We will have no trouble watching the fireworks," Derek stated. "And the room next door has view to the trees."

Meredith watched the beautiful view outside, but her thoughts were making too many questions.

"I am sorry," she said quietly, without looking away from the window. She felt though his gaze on her and then he took her hand. Meredith looked at him. "You were right. Lexie would make a better mom than me."

"No, she won't," Derek frowned.

Meredith turned to him, looking more confused.

"Maybe to this child," he smiled as he guessed her thoughts. "But one day will be become a mom and you will be just as good as her. Maybe better than her."

Meredith smiled.

He cradled her hand in his and gently stroked her cheek. "If it wasn't for Lexie, we would have adopted her."

Meredith nodded her head and sighed. "So…" she didn't have the courage to ask him if they would stay married or not, though it appeared they were still married.

"So," Derek wanted to help her. "I was thinking we could use the closet beside our room and make it our private bathroom, like we have to your parents' house."

Meredith smiled, relieved now. "I think I like the idea. What are we going to do with the rest of the rooms? We have six. What do we need six bedrooms for?"

Derek laughed. "I think we will manage to fill them somehow."

"Five bedrooms?" Meredith's eyes widened.

"Not all five," Derek answered amused. "We will have some guests from time to time too and it's good to have a spare one. Don't worry. We'll manage the space."

Fireworks started out of nowhere, announcing the arrival of a new year.

Derek pulled Meredith into his arms. "Happy New Year, Mer," he whispered in her ear.

"Happy New Year, Derek," she smiled.

"We don't have champagne but we'll go to Cristina and catch up with the drinks," Derek chuckled.

"Ok," Meredith laughed.

"Did you make a New Year resolution?"

Meredith didn't have to think about it for too long. "I hope I will learn more about marriage this year."

"Then mine is to learn with you."

"You don't seem like you need to learn about marriage. You were right earlier today and…"

"I was, but I might be wrong later," Derek didn't let her finish. He ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her. "We can keep the name Elena for our first daughter."

"First daughter?" Meredith laughed. "How do you know you won't have a whole team of boys?"

"Because I don't think you can handle a team of boys," Derek laughed. "We will stop after the third. If the third try is still not a girl, then we quit. Or we adopt one. But we will give this name to our daughter."

Meredith listened to him with a wide smile on her face. "Look at us. We just had our biggest fight and we stepped into the New Year together. We're making room assignments and plan children birth. We're seriously married now."

Derek couldn't agree more, "Seriously married."


	45. Epilogue

_**N/A: So here it is. It took me a while to end this story. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. I apologize for the boring parts or for the long delays between chapters, but you writes a story knows how sometimes you get stuck.**_

_**I want to say that I am very content with the feedback on the last chapter, because it brought different opinions. The reason I wrote an epilogue is to let you know how everything settled for our characters.**_

_**Thank you for your support!**_

----

**Seriously McMarried – Mr. & Mrs.**

Once arrived at the airport, Derek pulled the car in the parking lot and allowed himself a moment of contemplation. The last time he wanted to go on a sunny vacation was 4 years ago and back then he returned married from that vacation. Life as surgeons for both spouses was extremely hectic and didn't allow them too many vacations, but today they were going on a well-deserved sunny vacation.

Derek looked at his right and smiled as he watched Meredith's peaceful sleep. Out of all the people, probably she was going to be the one sleeping the most during this vacation and though it didn't sound exciting to him, Derek knew she needed relaxation. He gently ran the back of his hand across her cheek, making her stir at his touch.

"We're here," Derek announced.

Meredith stretched in her seat and glanced out the window. "Good," she muttered. "I can't wait to board and go back to sleep." She let out a long yawn and rubbed her face. "Derek?"

"What is it?"

"I am sorry," she looked at him, apologetically. "But I think I can sleep forever."

Derek chuckled. "Don't worry. You'll need a day or two to recharge your batteries. We have a whole week for all kind of fun activities. I will take care of your entertainment.

"Some drinking included?" Meredith nodded.

"Not that much as we'll have children with us," he pointed out.

"Good thing they're coming with their Mommy," Meredith wriggled her brows.

Derek laughed and nodded. "Let's go. We're supposed to meet them at the 9th gate."

------

As they sat and waited for the rest of the group to arrive, Meredith noticed Derek frequently checking his phone.

"Hasn't he called yet?" she asked him.

Derek sighed and shook his head. "Maybe he has no reason to call me."

"Derek, don't be so skeptical. You had strong competition and the board has a lot to evaluate. Maybe he will call."

"Maybe," he nodded skeptically. He smiled at her then and took her hand. "It won't be such a big deal if I am not named Chief of surgery," he wanted to convince himself, unsuccessfully though.

Meredith narrowed her eyes and gave him a knowing look. "Is this one of moments when you need me to feed your ego?"

Derek laughed and leaned in, kissing her. "You don't have to feed my ego. I know how great I am."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "Maybe you're too great if they don't choose you."

"I am not sure how comforting that is," he chuckled, gently rubbing her cheek. "But thank you for your effort."

Meredith gave him a peck and patted his hand reassuringly. "Anytime, honey."

Derek laughed and put his arm around her, holding her close. "It's still early, though. I don't think Richard makes this kind of announcement at…" he checked his watch. "6 o'clock in the morning."

"This is going to be a painful week," they heard Cristina groaning behind their chairs.

Meredith turned to greet her friend. "You chose to come alone. Owen could have needed a nice vacation in someone's nice company. Especially these days."

Cristina walked around and took a seat next to Meredith. "He doesn't stand any chance. The competition is too strong for him."

"Thank you," Derek was impressed with Cristina's appreciation.

Cristina looked at him as if she saw him for the first time. "Oh. Right. Yeah. Anyway, I am not good at comforting."

"What if he wins?" Meredith pointed out.

"Hey!" Derek frowned.

Meredith smiled at him and then turned to her friend.

"I'll find something nice to buy him."

Meredith shook her head with disapproval. "You're a horrible partner."

"Yeah, well, I can live with it," Cristina nodded.

The rest of the group joined, a minute later.

"Why are they only three? Where are the others?" Cristina questioned as she was the first one that spotted, Mark and Lexie and the little girl and walked by Mark's side.

"Meri!" the little girl ran straight to Meredith, smiling widely at her. "I cut my hair," she announced proudly and ran her hand over her short hair.

Meredith laughed and ran her fingers through her brown curls. "You look great."

Elena giggled sweetly and moved to Cristina. "I cut my hair, Cristina."

Cristina just nodded and muttered under her breath, "I should cut mine, too."

Elena approved her with a smile and turned to Mark and Lexie.

"Where are Molly and Laura?" Derek asked them.

"Lola is sick," Elena shook her head pitifully. "And she stays with Mommy."

"She might have appendicitis," Lexie said. "Molly is taking her to the hospital today for more tests."

"And she still sent Elena?" Cristina asked.

Meredith ignored her friend's lack of concern and showed a little worry for her oldest niece. "Are you sure there's nothing serious?"

"No. We should not worry. Molly asked to call her as we land and she will give us more information then. I have Elena's papers, so we're ready to board." She knelt down at Elena's level, smiling. "We're going to have a great time and we'll find great presents for Lola, Mommy and Daddy, right?"

Elena nodded. "I want to find shells."

"You mean seashells," Mark corrected her.

Elena nodded and ran her hand over her hair, as she had constantly done it since she met Meredith.

"You're so proud of your haircut," Meredith laughed at her and pulled her up onto her lap.

Elena cuddled in Meredith's arms and nodded, "Mommy cut it. Lola cut her hair, too."

"Of course the ticket was free!" Cristina exclaimed suddenly. "You brought me to babysit!"

Everyone groaned.

"You'll just share the room at night. If you had brought Owen…" Meredith pointed out.

Cristina shot her friend a glare and shook her head.

"Cristina," Elena patted her hand, calling for her attention. "I want to make a seashell necklace."

"And let me guess. You want me to help you."

Elena smiled and nodded proudly. "Because you play so…" she wriggled her tiny fingers as she struggled to find the words, "you play nice with your fingers. You do magic."

"Oh, she's good at fluttering," Derek laughed.

Cristina smiled at her friends. "Watch out your credit cards for the check out, because we need to buy the best presents for Lola, Mommy, Daddy and the Nanny."

"Don't worry," Derek laughed. "I am willing to spend as much as possible so everyone can have fun."

"That's why you're going to be named Chief," Cristina looked satisfied with the agreement. "You're generous."

"You won't see my credit card," Mark muttered. He put the bag on his shoulder again and grabbed back the suitcase. "Do you want to hop up for a ride?" he asked Elena, patting the place on the suitcase where she could sit.

Elena shook her head and climbed down from Meredith's lap, holding her hand out to her.

To whoever didn't know their story, it was impossible to understand why Meredith was Elena's favorite aunt and not Lexie;

----

Hot water poured down his body, smoothing the ache that had built up among the past weeks; the long surgeries, the nights spent in an on-call room instead of their comfortable bed, everything felt exhausting now.

As he knew he had left Meredith sleeping, Derek took his time with the shower. He wanted to be relaxed now that he was on vacation, but waiting the announcement for the new Chief of surgery, kept his thoughts busy, making him asked if he had done any wrong step or if he could have done something better. Luckily, Meredith was a real support and encouraged him all the way, distracting him when needed.

Derek let out a sigh and turned the water off. He had promised he would go and save Cristina from Elena, taking the girl to the beach. He wrapped a towel around his waist and steaming, walked out of the bathroom.

Derek was surprised to find Meredith dressed in her bathing suit and shorts, laid on the bed and buttoning the remote control. She turned the TV off as she saw Derek coming out. A smile of lust spread across her lips as her eyes locked on Derek's towel.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" he laughed.

"And miss this?" she pointed to his towel.

"You can't have this because I think I heard Cristina's desperate call for help. So, no time for flirting."

Meredith crawled down from the bed and walked up to him, pressing her body against this. "This is not flirting, Mr. Husband."

Derek smiled, cradling her face in his hands. "This is sexual harassment, Mrs. Wife."

Meredith winced with displeasure and stepped back. "You're not fun."

"And you're sleepy."

"No, I am not."

"Meredith, you can stay and take a nap. I will take Elena to the beach and probably to lunch. You can take it easy."

Meredith narrowed her eyes and suddenly became suspicious. She took another step back and folded her arms against her chest. "You're trying to pick up women using Elena, aren't you?"

Derek burst into laugh, which was short as Meredith's glare became deeper. "No! Fine, come. I don't care, but I hope you'll be up to my standards tonight."

Meredith got closer to him and her fingers slid around his waist. "I will blow your standards."

Derek shivered at her touch and had to shake the porn out of his head. "And out we go to take Elena."

As Meredith turned around suddenly to pick the remote control again, she became dizzy and Derek saw her losing her balance. He was by her side in no time to hold her.

"Sleep, Mer. Get some rest."

"I am fine," she reassured him with a tired smile. "I am."

Derek decided to let go. A little time at the beach wasn't as exhausting as the hours spent in the OR, daily. He put his hand over her forehead and held her close until Meredith pulled away. "Get dressed. I am going to see if Elena is ready."

Derek stroked her cheek one last time before he let her go.

It was a sunny day at the beach, the bright sun warming the sand and the water just enough for the people present there to enjoy their vacation.

Meredith and Elena were two of those people that chose to stay at the shore and build sand castles, while Derek snoozed in a lounge chair.

"Ohh," Elena whimpered as a big wave swept the shore and the yard of their castle. She sighed soundly and stood up to go and fill the bucket with dried sand.

Meredith couldn't remember when she had last found such fun in a simple and innocent activity like this. She didn't care she had sand all over her body and inside her bathing suit; she was a big girl playing in the sand, at the moment.

Elena returned to Meredith with her bucket half-filled with sand and put it down, kneeling beside it. She gasped and suddenly jumped on her feet, pointing to the sea. "The water, Mel!" she squealed as a new wave came threatening to them; she was half-scared, half-entertained by the soft wave that broke at their feet. Elena started tapping the wet sand with her feet, laughing at Meredith.

Meredith joined her fun and picked her up, taking her close to the water. As a new wave approached, Elena started squealing again, wriggling her legs as Meredith held her over the water.

"I am throwing you to the mermaids," Meredith warned her as she pretended to throw her into the water.

"No! No!" Elena squealed and started wriggling even more.

As Elena's constant wriggle became too much for Meredith, she had to let her down. Elena instantly hung on her as she felt the cold water to her feet.

Derek had the best waking he could remember; with the soft giggles of the girls and soft breeze of the ocean. He stood up, his eyes narrowed at the strong light, and tried to see what exactly Meredith and Elena were doing.

"You two are the noisier than the seagulls and the ferryboats all together!" he called to the girls.

Meredith and Elena stopped from their play and turned to Derek.

"Look who is up," Meredith laughed, "the sleeping beauty." A cheeky smile lit up her face as an idea struck her. She took Elena's bucket and filled it with water.

"You wouldn't dare," Derek laughed as he guessed her intention.

"I wouldn't," she admitted, but also handed the bucket to Elena. "Do you dare?" she asked her.

Elena looked at her, confused.

"Wake him up with cold water. Cold water helps, doesn't it?"

Elena nodded and smiled as she understood what she had to do. She took the bucket and carefully started carrying it to the place where Derek was.

"Elena," Derek chuckled. "You don't want to do that to your favorite uncle, do you?"

Elena shook her head, smiling, but kept carrying the bucket.

"Elena," Derek smiled softly at her, hoping he would convince her. "I am still your favorite uncle, right?"

Elena nodded and at the same time threw the water on him. Being little and the bucket too heavy for good handling, Elena couldn't appreciate the distance correctly so she threw a few drops of water on Derek only.

That was enough though for Derek to start a chase and a new series of squeals and he ran after Elena. He let her take advance but he soon scooped her up and ran with her to the water, while Elena hung desperately on him. "Let's get wet together, what do you say?" he asked Elena and at the same time let himself fell with his back into the water.

Derek made sure he wouldn't fall in deep water, but Elena was still screaming, of scare and fun at the same time. Derek lifted her upright and held her into his arms. "Are you awake now?"

Elena smiled as she brushed the hair out of her face. "I wasn't sleepy," she giggled. "Do it again!" she squealed eagerly, holding Derek's cheeks between her tiny palms.

"Maybe later," Derek said as he carried her back to the shore. He put her down and told her, bending to her ear, "Stay on the shore, ok? Derek has a revenge to take from your aunt. Stay here," he repeated and as Elena nodded and ran to the sand, Derek turned to Meredith, an evil grin creeping across his face.

Meredith giggled and took a step back. "You wouldn't dare."

Derek shook his head and immediately started running after her.

"Derek!" Meredith laughed as she ran along the shore.

Derek sped up and soon hung her with one arm, easily scooping her onto his arms, and ran to the water.

"Derek," Meredith whimpered, desperately hanging on his neck.

Derek ran to deep water and threw them in it.

Meredith struggled with her arms and legs and came to the surface, soon followed by Derek, who chuckled victoriously.

Meredith didn't like this play anymore and coughing as the water blocked her airways, she stumbled to the shore.

"You're overreacting," Derek smiled, but as he said that, Meredith fell on her knees and started throwing up. His smile faded instantly and was by her side in no time, kneeling beside her. "Mer," he gently rubbed circles on her back. "What's wrong?" he asked her, now visibly worried and sure that something was not right with Meredith.

Meredith waved her hand to reassure him that she was fine, but stayed bent as she knocked out the nausea. "I am fine," she muttered out of breath.

"Do not argue," Derek told her firmly and slowly helped her stand up. "Sit down now," he put an arm around her and led her to their chairs. He grabbed a towel and wrapped her in it, gently rubbed her arm.

Elena came running to her, carefully watching Meredith as she asked Derek, "What you did to her?"

Derek smiled and sent her away, "She's just tired. Go and play. And stay away from water."

Elena nodded and gave one more look to Meredith before she took off back to her playing.

Derek sat down beside Meredith on the chair and held her close as she put her head down on his shoulder. Something was not right with her and Derek was sure of it. He started recounting the symptoms; she was tired, nausea most of the times, including in the airplane, dizziness and, as he held his arm around her waist and felt its flash, she had appetite and a few extra pounds.

He pulled back and came to crouch in front of her, watching her carefully, "You're hiding something from me?"

Meredith looked up, surprised with the tone of accusation from his voice. "No."

"Meredith, are you pregnant and you didn't tell me?"

"What?"

"It's obvious and I don't think you're this ignorant not to see," Derek retorted accusingly.

Meredith frowned and pulled back a little. "I am not ignorant and I am not pregnant."

Derek didn't reply right away and kept watching her. "You wouldn't lie to me."

"Of course not," Meredith snapped. "Derek, how can you ask me this after 4 years of marriage? If you really believe this, then you have some serious issues."

Meredith made a point with that and Derek realized that he had gone overboard. He sighed and took Meredith's hand, cradling between his. "I am sorry."

Meredith frowned and pulled her hand back. "Seriously?"

"What?" Derek questioned, confused. "I am sorry. I just… It's obvious, Meredith. You're pregnant."

Meredith sighed, letting the guard off a little bit. "I am ignorant," she concluded quietly.

Derek remembered calling her ignorant earlier. He sat beside her again and pulled her into his arms. "It's been a hard year at the hospital. We're both exhausted. Let's enjoy this vacation as much as we can and let's see what's with this fat," he smiled teasingly while pinching her belly.

Meredith gasped and her palm brushed roughly against his cheek, unintended.

Derek winced as he started rubbing his cheek. "So you have some excess of hormones, which confirms my suspicions. Meredith, you need to take a test."

Now that the little conflict between them died, Meredith could clear her thoughts and for the first time paid attention to Derek's words. Pregnant? She grabbed her bag and fumbled after her agenda. She opened it and slowly the tip of her finger ran across the pages. The month before had skipped unmarked and the present one was half way through. She had never missed marking the calendar; unless she didn't have her period that month.

Blood drained from her face and a new wave of nausea kicked in. Derek noticed her spasm and held her hair to back as she bent, ready to throw up. Nothing came out this time.

Derek put his hand on her forehead and then gently pulled her into his arms. He noticed Elena stopping quietly beside them, looking at them, worried.

"She's fine," Derek reassured with a smile.

Elena shot him a small glare and reproached quietly, "You yelled at her."

Derek chuckled to himself. "Well, she yelled at me back."

Elena shook her head, disapproving. "My daddy doesn't yell at mommy."

"Yeah, well…" Derek sighed as he couldn't find the right explanation.

Elena didn't seem to expect one though as she sighed and told him, "I am hungry."

Derek laughed at Meredith then, "Great defense you have here."

Meredith smiled kindly at Elena and ran her fingers through her hair, shaking the sand off. Four years ago she felt ready to become a Mommy for this little girl, today, when she was 'almost' pregnant, she wasn't sure what she felt.

----

During the lunch, neither Meredith nor Derek felt like talking about what was going on with Meredith, so it took Elena to fill the moments of awkward silence.

Left alone in their hotel room, after she had passed Elena to Lexie and Mark and Derek went to buy some pregnancy tests, Meredith got a little courage to think through. She had mixed emotions about a pregnancy; excitement, fear, incapability for such commitment.

She passed around the room, looking for more courage because as far as she knew, she and Derek deserved a baby of their own. Elena had been a good practice for them.

The door opened and Derek walked in, carrying a paper bag. "I bought 3, although we might as well use one."

Meredith sighed and sat at the edge of the bed. Derek walked up to her, put the bag on the bed and sat down. He took her hand in his and looked into her eyes. "So it's not just me, being scared."

Meredith shook her head and her face lit up instantly. Derek's panic seemed to have given her some courage. She took the bag and told him as she headed to the bathroom, "There's a message for you on the nightstand." She turned and smiled knowingly.

Derek smiled. He could guess who sent him the message and what it said. It was good news, the ones expected, but Derek was emotionally numb. He stood up and went to pick the note.

'_Do not call me. We'll talk when you come back. Congratulations.'_

Nothing. He should be squealing, scooping Meredith onto his arms and celebrate with champagne. Yet, he felt like he needed to do nothing; like he had to wait the anesthesia to pass.

Meredith walked out of the bathroom. "5 minutes."

Derek smiled and patted the place beside him on bed. She went and sat with him, in a perfect silence, comfortable than earlier.

"It's going to be ok." He took her hand, leaning his side to her body, with his head down on her shoulder.

Meredith giggled and leaned her cheek against his forehead. "You're so brave sometimes. I guess I can't count on you at changing the diapers."

Derek smiled and let out a sigh. "I think I am a little bit tired, too."

"We shouldn't be feeling this way," Meredith concluded quietly.

"We've worked hard lately," Derek pointed out.

"I mean about the baby."

Derek pulled back a little to look at her. "I know," he nodded sadly. "I wonder why it feels like this."

Meredith shrugged her shoulders. "Do you think we're not ready?"

Derek took a brief moment to think and shook his head. "We're ready."

"Maybe we're in shock."

Derek nodded and approved quietly, "Maybe."

They sighed in unison and smiled at each other at their common reaction.

Derek took Meredith's hand and kissed it.

Meredith turned her torso so she could face him. She smiled and brushed the back of her hand against his stiff cheek. "Chief."

A grin spread across his face at that word. "I know. I knew."

"I know you knew," she laughed. She leaned in and dropped a kiss on his lips. "I am going to check the tests."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

Meredith shook her head, smiling. "I won't faint. I suspect what I have, already."

Meredith walked out of the bathroom, a minute later, without any test.

Derek anxiously stood up and felt his heartbeat rising, especially as he couldn't read any emotion on Meredith's face.

Meredith stopped in the doorway and said, "They're all pink."

Derek narrowed his eyes, asking for more details.

"Positive," she said.

Derek froze briefly. He nodded and smiled, holding his hand out. Meredith came at his side, and taking his hand, she leaned to him. He wrapped an arm around her and held her close.

Still, neither of them knew how to take the news.

They held each other and listened to each other's breathing for a while. Meredith turned her head to the window as her cheek rested on Derek's shoulder, and watched the sun outside; the light was delightful, painting the sky in a clear, bright blue. It was a unique sunny sky, or at least that's how she felt it in that moment. Suddenly, as if the sunlight reached her brain and soul, Meredith felt something warm inside of her and couldn't hold back a small smile.

She pulled back and looked at Derek. She sighed and said, with the smile reaching her eyes now, "We're going to be parents."

Derek smiled at her and nodded thoughtfully. "We are," he answered quietly, as if for himself.

Meredith was a little scared with Derek's reaction; she had expected more from him; she had expected more from herself also, so she couldn't blame him. As career was their focus for the last years, neither of them made plans for starting a family.

"Meredith?" Derek called for her attention. She looked at him and met a different smile this time. "We're going to be parents!" he said out loud as if it was his news to Meredith.

Meredith laughed at him. "I think you're still in shock."

Derek shook his head, laughing. He took Meredith into his arms and made a short spin with her. "I am over the shock," he smiled, holding her body into his arms and brushing her hair with his fingers. "And take notice that I didn't squeal."

Meredith giggled. "Some squealing would have been nice; nicer than the spin."

Derek let her out of his arms and took her hand as he led her to the bed. He asked her to sit down and he crouched at the edge of the bed, in front of her. He put his arms around her waist and smiled at her belly.

"I am sorry for earlier at the beach," he said and looked up at Meredith.

Meredith shook her head. "We need to fix this before the baby comes. I never gave you reasons to doubt of me."

"But Meredith, I don't see this as an issue. When else have I doubted of you?"

"Whatever," Meredith shook her head as she didn't want to start a topic on this. "If you suspect anything, just ask me."

"Mer," Derek took her hand.

"Let's just make sure it won't happen again."

Derek nodded, content with the conclusion. "Will you be less jealous, too?"

"I am not jealous!" she denied firmly at first, but as Derek gave her a knowing look, she considered her answer a little bit. "Maybe I'd be," she shrugged matter-of-factly. "If I accidently find a condom in your wallet."

"But I always have one in my wallet."

"Uselessly if you ask me," she muttered and put a hand on her belly. "Anyway, you shouldn't be carrying one for a while."

Derek chuckled and pulled her back into his arms. "I love you just the way you are."

Meredith giggled as she snuggled into his arms. "Can we take a nap?"

Derek pulled back and took her hand. "We need to take a nap. You need to eat as much you feel like you need to and we're also have to rearrange you're work schedule."

"Why would you do that?" Meredith frowned. "Do not play Chief with me, Mr. Shepherd."

Derek laughed and took her by the shoulders, leading her to bed. "We'll get to a compromise somehow."

As they were both too tired to even take a shower, they got in bed and snuggled next to each other.

"Because we're here, we could pay Addison a visit for a consult."

Meredith stood up immediately as Derek said that. She shook her head with disapproval. "Seriously?"

"Yes."

Meredith shook her head again. "You can be so brainless sometimes. Mr. Daddy."

Derek smiled and pulled her back down to him. "Why?"

"Now that's even more brainless. Do you want me to be checked by your ex?"

"My very ex," he pointed out. "She has a husband and a baby, now."

"Still…" Meredith wasn't convinced.

"And you're not jealous," Derek concluded.

"Shut up," she giggled. "You love me just the way I am."

"I do," he pretended to sigh. "Mrs. Mommy."

Meredith giggled and put her head down on his chest. "Will it be this perfect forever now?"

Derek took a second to answer. "No, because it would be boring. But it will be great."

---

_**Another note: As you can see, I let the story open in case I will start a sequel. I have the ideas for the whole story, I just don't have time to write them down. If I start it, I will probably post it around January.**_


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